After establishing a part of the pantry as a cheese storing rack/cave candidate I wanted to present to you the ,,established stars" with all their quirks with one ultimate goal - to see if someone has an idea what can be done at this point to help them in their aging process. I posted shyly at first, then made a small pause to get my thoughts gathered and now there is more on my mind. And in cheese department, for that matter. It was getting a little crowded in part of the pantry where I hold cheese, that's what ignited the pantry/cave thing. Few of already made cheeses were doing their thing watching me from their vacuum-packs as I was trying to find a way to utilise this unused part of the pantry. In the meantime I was trying at one improvised blue (idea came mixed from local store blue that i like, Blue by You from Cheesemaking.com and Vinny Blue) and a Stilton style blue, while caring for one misfit that was named MDB – Moldy drunken baron, a complete mess that started hectic, but just might end up as something edible. About those three I will continue in Blue section next time. As you can see, I like to write. So yeah, readers – praise, others – braise. Even though it is not without flaws, this corner will have to do as a cave until heath hits. Now the temperature ranges around 13-18, I think it is acceptable. But humidity is a problem, it's on the drier side, that's why I vacuum most of the cheeses. That has proven to be counter productive in other departments (slow ripening, overacidification, no character/aroma profile etc.). And that is one of the main reasons I post now. So yeah, here is the squadron of vacuum-packed ,,established stars". I would like to hear your observations. From left to right. First one is a cheddar type. Still, I wouldn't call it a cheddar just yet. Quite soft, but not in a bad, mushy way. Dried on air for a few days, vacuum-packed, then again air dried for a few days and vacuum-packed again where it has been since. Risk of overacidity is present, as with most cheeses here (that's probably the other single main reason for this post). Interesting thing about this one is that there is little liquid in vacuum-pack despite being obviously moist. Even without formed rind. It was made on 4th of March. We'll see in a few months. Red one is rubbed with smoked paprika and olive oil. It has some cracks on the edges from moulding. It was quite dry at last rub so it got vacuum-packed. Hopefully it won't be too dry, acidic and crumbly in the end. If I remember correctly, it was a mix of meso and thermo culture (later being my probiotic hack). Not a recipe followed cheese, but an idea that came from Ibores recipe found on Cheesemaking.com and some internet reading about Mahon. Made on 10th of January. In the middle there is a try at Vaccino Romano (only by idea and recipe from Cheesemaking.com that I held as i guideline). I could never make a real deal at this stage. Actually, I wanted to try a grating cheese again because I had small success with one a while back. Though that was a generic one, but still pleasant as a grating cheese. Applied thermo culture is actually sold as a probiotic in a pharmacy (LL, LH, ST and Bifidobacterium Longum) - one of my crazy hacks. Pressed quite hard, a little bit of dark mold issues during one month of air drying and then vacuum-packed. To be opened in July-September. This one will maybe turn out ok. On the right wing there is a try at Jack (bigger one) and a Colby. Only as an idea and a guideline, I am still a beginner and not confident enough to call any of my cheeses after a recipe, even though I read them and follow them to some extent. Both were overacidified and here I tried for the first time a hack called baking soda. After moulding, when smell indicated too much acid I soaked them in a baking soda and water solution for half an our. We shall see if and how this affected final acidity and taste. They were vacuum-packed at first, but when I saw liquid buildup I decided to take them out, washed them with brine and left them to form natural clean rind and dry up some more. At one point the smaller one started to crack so I decided it's time to incorporate butter sealing and goal oriented oiling in my cheese making experience. It was soaking the oil quite a bit. It took 3-4 oilings to stabilise cracking. But it still continued to dry out. The other one didn't show signs of cracking . However, it started to develop a fine white powdery stuff on the surface. I don't think it was mold or yeast, maybe it was residue of brine wash or result of intense drying or some chemical reaction? At one point, the oiled one caught some wild blue mold and other one was now getting too dry so I washed and vacuum-packed them for the final time some days ago. Now I am hesitant, but also eager to open them because I fear they will be to acidic, crumbly, generic sour deadites with zero character, aroma and age quality. They were made on 15.12.2020 and 1.1.2021. Three of these cheeses will be opened in May, plus two of the blue department so I will post then with pictures. Surely it will be interesting. This will be my baptism in fire. If it turns out as a big failure I will have to consider quiting. So yeah, I came to a conclusion that has been lurking in my head for some time now. Vacuum-packing gives us the luxury of negligence, but at a cost of a prolonged, often undesirably long ripening which can result in additional negative (rarely positive) developments that we are mostly unaware of (too much acid produced at a later stage, for example, trapped moisture, no gas exchange). By this I mean the basic but complete transforming of curd into a paste and the earliest time at which cheese can be eaten as (fully) ripened. From that point on advanced aging (affinage) would take place. Does this make sense? Did some of you came to same or similar conclusion? Does vacuum-packing gives more (easier managing of the ripening process) or takes more (slow and low quality of the ripening process)? My cheeses simply show little or no sign of ripening when vacuum-packed. And they all turn up too acidic and crumbly, brittle. When I leave them to form natural rind they sooner or later develop cracks or grow unwanted molds when I cover them to keep humidity up. So it is gambling thing where cheese gets between hammer and anvil, in a sense. Maybe there are in my case other retarding factors, when it comes to ripening, that i take for granted, as acceptable, such as temperature, moisture and disabled gas exchange?
I don't think you can age a cheese at 18 degrees, 65 Fahrenheit, unless it's a Swiss type for the first weeks when the Propionic bacteria are making holes, and then they need to go into cooler temps too. I used to use plastic baggies of ice cubes in plastic trays before I found a better and less annoying option.
I don't use vacuum bagging. Sometimes I wax cheeses if I want to eat them young. You might consider a humidifier (or water-soaked napkins in plastic trays if you're using them). That should take care of the cracking.
There are no "unnatural" molds on cheese, that's just what they do! I would suspect the white mold is Geotrichum candidum, very common.
Just my advice, but I strongly think you need to get temperature and humidity issues under control if you want to make better cheese. Temperatures that are too high, plus vacuum packing, will result in overly acidic, unpleasant cheese.
-L
I agree, much too warm, especially for a vacuum sealed cheese.
I've had good luck aging vac sealed wheels at normal fridge temperature when I didn't have other options. They take about 1.5x as long to achieve readiness, but far less likely to have off flavors develop than if aged too warm.