Hey All,
I made a bit of a booboo last night. I left my Gruyère out overnight close to an window. I spotted it this morning and it had sagged causes a few big cracks! I made it last week so it was still slightly moist. Im not sure what to do? Should I wax it? I know you dont really wax Gruyère but I dont want it getting contaminated.. Or is it too late :(
Maybe you could vac bag it. Probably won't heal the cracks but might keep it from drying out.
Big Cheese, I just moved your post to this board and renamed it "Cracks" so easier to find by others as from picture and your description I believe the problem was rapid air drying of the cheese which results in shrinkage of the outer cheese but not the inner cheese resulting in your surface stress cracks. You can undo the damage somewhat by bagging the cheese and enabling the cheese to revert to an even moisture content at surface and middle. Some more info on it here (http://www.cheeseforum.org/Making/Defects%20-%20General,%20Surface.htm#Defect_Surface_Cracks).