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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => ADJUNCT - Blue Mold (Penicillium roqueforti) Ripened => Topic started by: Intrepidfred on February 02, 2020, 06:43:56 PM

Title: Too much blue mold early (Gorgonzola)
Post by: Intrepidfred on February 02, 2020, 06:43:56 PM
This is my first attempt at blue cheese. I used the gorgonzola dolce recipe from cheesemaking.com

This is my cheese 4 days after salting. The blue mold is already blooming.

Question: should I remove some? My surface is quite uneven and the cheese seems a bit dry and compact.

Should I pierce the cheese now (the recipe recommends waiting 9 days after salting)

Thanks!
Title: Re: Too much blue mold early (Gorgonzola)
Post by: River Bottom Farm on February 05, 2020, 05:20:33 PM
Do you have that in a box or just on the shelf as it shows? I would think the dry surface may be not enough humidity so a ripening box might help. I don't have a lot of experience with that cheese but from what I remember reading the blue takes over for a bit and then the PC takes over afterwards.
Title: Re: Too much blue mold early (Gorgonzola)
Post by: Lancer99 on February 15, 2020, 04:10:55 AM
Interesting, I just made the same cheese, but using the recipe from Caldwell's book.  Your curd seems a lot dryer and more open, more like a couple of Stiltons I've made.  Maybe you could treat it more like that or a Shropshire Blue, by which I mean use a spatula and do your best to smooth out the outside and seal it, so there's a more or less solid rind.

Just a thought.

L