Yeah, I know it's mold. ;) I made my first gouda (or what I hope will turn out to be a gouda). I'm drying it in my wine cooler and it is getting some serious mold. I've been scrubing it with a vinegar/water mixutre, but I'm afraid that I'm washing some of the rind off. What is the best course of action? I've read to wash it with a heavy brine. Can I submerse it in a heavy brine to take care of the mold then wax it? Or should I hand wash it and when I'm sure all of the mold is off then I wax it?
Thanks in advance!
mickers, welcome.
The root problem is your ripening humidity is too high, recommend reduce.
Rebrining your Gouda will help rebuild a dehydrated hard rind which will help protect against molds but you may overshoot your % salt target. Recommend hand wash then lower humidity (don't overshoot and go too low or you will get cracks (https://cheeseforum.org/articles/2010/12/wiki-surface-defects-cracks/)). Then either continue aging for natural rind or wax or oil rind (https://cheeseforum.org/articles/2010/12/wiki-oiling-rinds/).
Thanks for the quick reply. Should I wash with water/vinegar or a heavy brine?
If you flip through this Board's threads you see plenty of posts about surface molds and solutions.
Most people recommend rubing with mixture of dry salt in vinegar (https://cheeseforum.org/articles/2010/12/wiki-surface-defects-mould/), hits it from both angles!
If you get time and post a picture (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,51.0.html) it would be easier to tell what type of mold.
Boiling up a brine now. I'd post a pic, but I've already hit the mold pretty hard with the vinegar/water solution. If it comes back I'll be sure to post a pic. FWIW, it looks like bread mold.
Okay, I was scrubbing the wheel pretty hard and a chunk fell off. I decided to give it a bite to see how well things were going...wow, it was RANK. I spent about 2 minutes leaning over the sink and spitting. :'( I guess I need to start with an easier cheese. Would feta be a good start?
The issue is that the green mold you have was not a good variety of roqueforti, if it was even in the penicillium genus. And once it gets a foothold, it will permeate your cheese and make it rather vile.
You may want to consider either waxing/vac packing, or if you want to keep the rind, using a coating with natamycin, or even a natamycin dip to inhibit the mold.
Ummmm, roqueforti, penicilium, natamycin...totally lost :-\
I'm brand new to this and this was my first cheese attempt. Can you speak English to me? ;)