So a little over two months ago, I made my first ever cheese - a blue cheese loosely based off the stilton recipe/instructions given by Gavin Webber and John Kirkwood on their youtube videos. Blue cheese is my favorite, so why not?
I started with a small slice of blue cheese I got from the grocery store - it was a wisconsin blue that was decent, but nothing amazing. However, I figured that the penicillium roqueforti was one and the same no matter what type of blue cheese I got it from. I then innoculated a piece of sourdough bread I got from a bakery next door. After several weeks, my bread slice was covered in blue/greenish mold spores - so I'm pretty sure I did that part ok. Perhaps for my first go, I shouldn't have gotten my blue mold spores this way, but it did seem to work.
I then followed the instruction based off the youtube videos mentioned above. I used 2 gallons of whole milk and a 1/2 gallon of half and half. Then I smashed up a good amount of my moldy bread in purified water and strained it to get my blue mold spores. Added my mesophilic culture and rennet, etc., etc.
Everything went well with the make and it looked and smelled really good before I even put it into my aging container. However, I read that blues should be aged at least 2 months and the longer the better in terms of strong flavor. So I let it age for just over 60 days before finally cutting into it tonight. My aging container was in my warehouse, which was generally between 55-60 degrees F for the aging period. The RH was a bit hard to control, bc just the cheese itself would cause the box to get up around 100%. To keep the humidity at bay I drilled holes in my tupperware box and would open it for a few hours every day to get fresh air. So I think it maybe had a bit too much humidity, but it never got slipskin and I did take it out for a day or two to dry out a bit since it seemed too moist. Anyways, based off smell and looks I think I probably should have tried my cheese around the 35-40 day mark because the aroma was strong of blue and it smelled really good. As time went on, I noticed an ammonia smell got stronger and stronger and the blue smell was less and less.
Cutting it open today, the veining looked good and it still had a nice blue smell. However, the pretty strong ammonia smell and color of the cheese has caused me to think that it has gone bad. The non blue/green vein parts of the cheese have turned an off-white almost brown color....the cheese was also very creamy, kinda like the texture of a saga blue. I was a bit scared to try it as this was my first attempt. The final result was a taste that was really sharp and bitter and not exactly pleasing.
Does this indicate that I aged my cheese too long? What can I do better on my next attempt? I think I managed to make and form the cheese pretty well, and I was happy with the veining and mold growth. However, I think I need more knowledge of the aging process. Also, is this cheese salvageable or should I just toss it? Thanks in advance for any help - this forum has been immensely helpful so far. I attached some pics of my result, though the brown/grayish coloring might not have shown up too well.
Looks good to me , it maybe be a little strong looking . But cheese does not really go bad ,as in it is toxic to eat ...... not from mold at least. . Just that it gets stronger and strong in taste so it is really about you and those that get to eat some of it.
I've heard that wrapping in tin foil for a few weeks might freshen the taste. Can't hurt to try before throwing it out.
I wish I could help with this issue because I had the same problem the first few blues I made. I don't even really know how I made it better. I did do a few things similar to you then changed it. I aged my first few attempts in a basement in Tupperware. Then I stopped that now I have a fridge for them. Mine tasted as you describe. I blamed it on the Flora of the basement and the closed container. Let it air for a few days in your fridge may help.