HI Everyone,
I have attached a photo from a friend with a rind problem. This is tomme type make, cooked to 100 F and lightly pressed, brined.
My thoughts were not enough drainage in the from, so some whey retention that caused the cheese to pucker as it dried (this one is about 30 days old, I think and aged with ample humidity). The interior paste, says the maker, is very soft. He says that the rind is very dark (did not show up in the photo).
I also think there could be some issues with the brine, perhaps a little to acidic and not enough CaCl2? What do you guys think?
Thanks!
Gianaclis
OH, I also told him he might have some yeast contamination in the brine and or room, leading to a rise in pH on the surface allowing for some white and b.linens growth.
Hi Gianaclis,
The ridges in that pic look like they are formed due to fragmentation of vegetative hyphae that form unicellular units called arthrospores, and this change leads to a wrinkling type of effect
What happens is that as the mycelium mat grows and hyphae begin to form, in some molds (primarily Geotrichum), those hypha split. In the Geotrichum genus, the arthrospores tend to be a globose shape. And Geotrichum given the right conditions will grow very quickly, which pushes the mold skin up. This movement and stress over time will form the characteristic ridges. The exact pattern and shape of the ridges depends on the interactions in the microbial community, but often Geotrichum is what drives it.
Drainage in the form could contribute to a paste that is too soft (especially now in winter with higher solids), but it is the curd moisture at whey drain that determines cheese moisture more than anything. High brine acidity would have changed the rate of ion exchange and low calcium would have caused slimeyness, but not the ridges.
It's all about the affinage parameters: natural flora in the make room, humidity, and temp. In this case, it looks like a Geo strain took over and the humidity was too high, leading to a preferential Geo growth.
Yeast (debramyces, kluyveromyses, saccharomyces, etc) would have only helped to deacidify the surface some, like you said, but if the rind was taken care of, the early bloom could have been managed to prevent that effect.
Some ideas for a tomme affinage:
- Dry salting to create a salt gradient and stop early Geo development.
- Initial lower humidity, at 85% or so, to discourage uncontrolled b linens and Geo blooms
- Blended rind mix to deliberately inoculate with Danisco's PLA, Cargill's blends, or a custom surface blend
- Hand-brushing to control mold growth
Hope that helps!
Thanks, I think the maker has joined the list, so he can follow this thread too.
I think the big thing was that he was NOT trying to make a surface ripened cheese, but a hard cheese. At this time of the year in our part of the country we get some wild b. linens varieties, but the ones I usually see are much more red.
Thanks for the great input, Pav!
g
I had the exact same thing happen for a cheese I made some time ago right around October. Looked very similar, almost identical. It happened on a natural rind Stilton I just left out to intentionally capture wild yeasts and molds. My humidity was 95% and the temp was 52F. I wanted to let it grow to see what the natural flora would be like without interference.
I either vac bag tommes or inoculate with a specific rind treatment and the Geo and b linens in the mix usually balance each other out so long as my humidity is no more than 85%, and I brush back the growth. It's a little tough to keep the humidity down this time of year, so I make predominantly lactic cheeses in winter to make it easier on myself. Or I vac bag. I've found it somewhat difficult to achieve a good rind without inoculating. One can do it in an established cave where there's an existing microbial diversity, but it's difficult in new environments.