I was wiping down my hard cheeses, and wanted to cut my Baby Swiss, which had been aged for 3 + months. BUT, I got distracted by a phone call, picked up the 2 months old Gruyere instead, and cut a narrow wedge out of it. Realized it right away, pushed the wedge back in and put it back into ripening space.
It is a wheel made from 4 gallons of milk, about 3.5 lbs. Is it salvageable, can I continue aging it? Or is it ruined? :'(
I am by no means an expert, and am only getting started with Gruyere myself, but my guess is that you will need to vac pac it now or risk contaminates changing the nature of your cheese...
Ok, thank you. Was thinking about that, but I don't have a vacuum sealing machine (had one, but it did not last 3 months). Do you think I can shrink wrap it really tight? Or try to wax it?
In the absence of being able to vac pac, I'd go with wax.
I'd wipe all exposed surfaces with a heavy brine mixed with maybe a dash of vinegar, and then wax it with good wax carefully taken up to 225 F or so. It'll stunt the surface development, but the internal ripening will probably come along just fine.
Thanks everyone, I have been brine washing and cling wrapping while waiting for a new block of cheese wax to be delivered. I am a little timid to attempt the waxing, but will be prepared for having to cut off and dispose of a chunk at the end of the aging period.
Will definitely post results ... in 6 months...