I have never worked with blue cheese before. Well, not long term. These are some pics of my first, and second, buttermilk blue. The first is about 4 weeks old. I think the white is p. candidum. Does this look all right? Should I just hold course or wipe the rind down?
Would like to see a closer shot of the white to make sure it's not mucor. Mucor is bad. I'd brush it off and let the blue rind develop.
I would be inclined to pat it down or brush it a little , you could also give it a salt rub dry as blue likes salt more than most other molds.
Looks good though
When you say "a salt rub" you mean to actually rub the rind with dry salt?
I can't really get a closer shot, crappy camera. It did have tall "spires" but I didn't see the balls on top when I looked at it with a hand lens.
I did rub it down with a brine and bring the temp down 2 degrees F. All that's possible in my cave.
The rind on both of my blues has turned sticky. I tried clamping the sides of the ripening box down. The RH stays down at about 50% even though there is condensation inside the ripening box. (I've checked the hydrometer and think it's working properly.) I have scrubbed with brine to get the white mold off and rubbed once with salt. I think I'll go back to letting the box get more circulation.
If there is condensation on the lid of the box it is higher than 50% for sure.
Not sure why it would be sticky though
Quote from: Gregore on January 15, 2017, 09:21:26 AM
If there is condensation on the lid of the box it is higher than 50% for sure.
Not sure why it would be sticky though
I agree with Gregore, I would think you would get slip skin before sticky at 50% humidity.
I would suspect sticky is from the humidity climbing too high.