See my previous post, "Delicious Taleggio Failure," for what happened before.
The recipe from cheesemaking.com recommends a maximum of eight or so weeks of aging, but mine was slow, kept on the south side of 48-52 degrees. After the initial wipings with brine and B. linens, I kept the rind moist. The color developed quite nicely, but I expected that, like a Limburger, eventually the rind would start producing its own moisture. So I kept on going . . .
Finally around week nine it started to develop a "tacky" rind, but I sort of lost track of that "eight week" recommendation. Here it is at week 12:
(top)
(https://tiabr.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/DSCN1752.jpg)
(bottom)
(https://tiabr.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/DSCN1756.jpg)
As you can see, not only did it start to develop white mold (not a problem, as I found out later), but the rind started to crack:
(https://tiabr.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/DSCN1753.jpg)
The rind itself is a lovely salmony-orange color:
(https://tiabr.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/DSCN1755.jpg)
Cutting into it, the paste was fairly dense, with only a few small holes (what looks like larger holes is just the result of my poor cutting!).
(https://tiabr.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/DSCN1771.jpg)
(https://tiabr.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/DSCN1775.jpg)
But, you ask, how did it taste?
I gotta say, delicious. Semi-firm paste with a buttery, tangy, complex flavor. The recipe describes this cheese as 'mild,' but I'd call it closer to medium, probably due to the longer aging. Just soft enough to spread on a cracker. I'm not sure whether you're meant to eat the rind (probably not), and the rind on my "Failure" wasn't nice, but it was thin enough (if a bit dense) and just added to the complexity of the flavor.
(https://tiabr.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/DSCN1761.jpg)
I have been coming to some sort of detente with my Limburgers, quite enjoying them now, still unsure about the washed-rind cheeses, but I'll definitely make this one again.
L
AC4U! I'm now really looking forward to my reblochon which has been aging at low temps. I got some more blue mold again today, which is super weird. I can smell the b. linens and while the rind isn't pink, it is getting a deep yellow. Oh well. I'm sure it will be good :-)
Mike, which version of B. linens do you have? I have FR22, which gives the nice salmony/ pink color, but I know other strains give different colors.
-L
Mine is wild :-) It tends to be very orange.