In making a traditional English Cheddar, which, by the way, was a lot more work and time than I bargained for, I basically followed these instructions: http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/pg/23.html (http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/pg/23.html) I pressed it under a lot of weight, as the instructions and wrapped it in a cheese-cloth bandages as instructed. My plan was to allow it to age with mold and all as these instructions show. After about two weeks, it is starting to develop molds: some brown, some blue, and even a little bit of red in spots. I have been very careful to keep it clean and always wash my hands before handling it to prevent outside contamination.
Now after reading the recipe from the site that John posted today: http://www.dairyfoodsconsulting.com/recipes_cheddar.shtml (http://www.dairyfoodsconsulting.com/recipes_cheddar.shtml)
He states, "The molds must be scrubbed off of the bandage, especially during the first month and after that only occasionally. An SOS scrubber sponge works well if dipped in a 5% salt brine."
It's interesting that the second site has links to the first. So, my question is...Do I allow the molds to develop, ripen over time, and then dry off or scrub off the molds periodically? ???
Try to ignore the red stains on the ice chest. They are from camping. I did clean it well with a bleach solution before storing my cheese in it. ;D
Cheese is basically made by slow controlled rotting of milk. The trick is the control as in:
- Bacteria - Cultures of your choice for nice texture and flavor via starter cultures.
- Temperature - For internal process speed.
- Humidity - Too dry and dries out, too moist and susceptible to foreign unwanted bacteria either from touch or airborne.
So I think your unwanted externally visable moulds are either from:
- Inadequate dominant internal "starter" bacteria - Possible as I believe this is the cheese you had problems getting good set during cheese making phase, bad milk, bad starter culture, too moist inside?
- Easy access to foreign bacteria - Doubtful as you sound like you have good hygiene and wrapped the cheese presumably after it was adequately dry, did you also lard it?
- Easy susceptibility to foreign bacteria - Possible, I found my cooler cheese cave's humidity was very hard to control and keep down, plus my humidity gage (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php?topic=76.0) was not very accurate at very high % humidity.
Regardless of cause, you got trouble! The only remedial actions I can see are rubbing mold off daily with clean cloth with brine or vinegar and correcting the problem causing the mould development in the first place. Good luck!
PS: If the mould is inside the cheese then you are really in trouble, is it worth unwrapping an edge and looking at least below the cloth?
This is not my loose curd cheddar which became a stirred curd. This is a previous one, by a few days which I actually "cheddard" in the process. This one actually set up great, which is why I went for the second one which mysteriously failed, but was able to revive with some success.
I used butter to set the bandage and the repressed it with the bandage on.
I think I will go with your recommendation and clean off the mold and try to keep it as clean as possible.
interesting to say the least. not sure if the mold problem is that serious, its been two weeks at 55* and 95% humidity so i would expect some molds to grow. i did notice that the first recipe called for 85% humidity. also noticed that the first recipe had red and blue molds after a few weeks. could the brown mold on your cheese cause proplems ?, that i'm not sure of
a couple of things i would try is to strip the bandage and replace with a new sterilized one after wiping down with a salt solution. dip or smear the wheel with butter or lard, personally i would use lard then rebandage adding more lard to the exterior as needed. the lard should act as a shield by the sounds of it. also try to drop the humidity if possible
after reading both instructions i did notice something CH and i were talking about in an earlier conversation. quote " Remove from the press and take the cheese out of the forms. The cheeses can be vacuum sealed or waxed. If muslin cheese cloth is used, it can be left on the rind and waxed over."
what ever you decide to do good luck DD
something i forgot to mention in the last post. did you notice that he talked about PH at a few different times during the process of the recipe. can't remember the exact number but i know it was like 5.something at the one stage. now i'm no rocket scientist but that acidity may also have an effect on the mold growth
just a thought
Thanks all for the suggestions!
There's that mysterious pH factor cropping up again. Still need to find a good, inexpensive way to keep that in check.
I cleaned all the molds last night with vinegar. I did not get them completely off, just tried to keep them in check. They were not really ugly looking and as reg said, at that humidity, they are to be expected. My original intent was to allow it to grow mold as the instructions showed, but how much is too much. I also wiped it down with a brine. So far, I have left the bandage on as it has become one with the cheese. The final pressing on this cheese was over 100 pounds. The mold does not bother me, but I don't want it to take over too much.
This was, however, my first cheese that went exactly as planned (or as per instructions.) If you do a traditional English Cheddar, plan on many hours of work...I hope it works out.
Growing up on a farm, I remember my father cutting the green stuff off of meat and then cooking it. We ate everything. I don't think I would do that today. We butchered or own beef, made our own bacon (I recall that salting on the floor in the "cold room" in a stone basement), drank raw milk everyday, made our own butter, canned many things from the garden...but we never made cheese.
Perhaps thats the cause for my obsession. ???
Good to see you are getting it in check . . . I used to work in bush camps in British Columbia, at end of one 10 day workcamp when all the ice had long gone, our final evening meal before chopper was due was steaks. Sadly they were slightly green, didn't even cut anything off, just fried and ate them, and yes they tasted wonderful and stomaches were surprisingly OK.
My dad just cuts the mold off of cheddar cheese and eats it anyway.My grandfather would eat moldy cheddar with the mold still on it and he never got sick from it,in fact,he wouldn't eat it unless it had mold growing on it!Crazy old man!Although I personally cut mold off like my dad,one of my favorite cheeses is blue cheese which has a mold growing in it,ironically enough!
Dagger - how did your cheese turn out?
I've discovered that bandaged cheeses mold a lot. I've also experimented with simply coating my cheese with lard and really prefer that method over all others I have tried. Wax seems to crack or I get soggy mold growing under it, plus there are dry spots in the rind.
Larding seems to produce a more consistent texture throughout and dry rind spots even seem to reconstitute and become softer. This is using lard that I render from the pigs we have butchered, not commercial lard.
Just my 2 cents...
I am a bit confused now.
If removing mold was so important from bandaged cheddar, Why have I seen traditional cheddar aging cellars with so much mold on the outside, it almost forms a crust?
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1138/1118435973_1cb57eacba.jpg?v=0)
Makes my sinuses clench just to see that picture!
Here is mine: (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,1324.msg10909.html#msg10909)
It's pretty difficult to avoid the mould growing, so a tip to encourage the good moulds is to rub the inside of your cheese store with a piece of brie or camembert before placing your cheese inside it. Then hopefully these moulds will outgrow the less desirable ones.
I, like Wayne, am confused.
I thought the point of lard & bandage treatment was to encourage mold growth on the exterior of the cheese. This mold would then dry and produce a crust that works as a rind.
I understood that you want to get rid of the molds when aiming for a natural rind.
Nowhere have I seen a mention of what kind of molds are wanted to a cheddar lard & bandage -rind. Like NEC website says, "natural molds" appear and spread. There's no mention of getting rid of it.
IMHO when the molds are growing directly on the cheese you get rid of them becuase the will ruin the cheese (except whites and blues of course) but when you've prepared a lard bandage the molds become the protective rind, holding in mositure and adding to the flavors of the cheese. There are still bad molds to avoid but most will be green, brown and grey on lard.
The lard is a barrier that is supposed to keep unwanted molds out of the cheese itself, so it shouldn't matter what grows on the bandage.
MrsKK - Isn't the unbandaged lard awfully messy?
My problem with this is that I really do no want to pollute the inside of my cave with these molds. I have other cave residents that may not like that amount of
I love the bandaging and larding of the wheels. But in order to do this, I really need a dedicated cave.
I agree Wayne. I do everything I can to keep contamination at a minimum. I don't see the upside to bandaging - other than it looks cool. Does it make a better cheese? I doubt it.
There is something tactily satisfying and visually appealling to a tightly bandaged and larded wheel of your own cheese.
Its a real connection to the old school methods that appeals to me.
But in the end, i'm not sure what the advantage is over vacuum sealing. My mind says nothing.