Hey everyone, I was wondering if anyone could help me out here. I have been making cheese for about a year now. We have made some excellent fetas, mozzas and bries, but when it comes to hard cheeses or rind cheeses, we are still having difficulty. Everything tastes good, but it is just so dry it is inedible. We made Edam, and Montasio that were ridiculously dry. We made a Cabra al Vino (Drunken Goat) and I waxed it early and I think that saved it. So what I am wondering is what are signs that I should be waxing? Should I be waxing earlier than recipes say (200 Cheeses Recipe Book)? I am really wanting to make some cheeses for Christmas, but don't want them all ruined and not be able to give them to people.
Thanks
rev.cheesy
Hi Rev.Cheesy,
Once it is out of press and dried on the wood like dry to touch, you can wax it.
I think, you need to work out the humidity in your cave.
Im suprised your non waxed cheeses havent cracked from such low humidity (as you described=causes exremly dry cheeses).
Depending on the moisture level of the cheese some can be waxed stright after air drying and some with high moisture like gouda need a few weeks at 80-85% and 12-15c before they can be waxed,otherwise you may have some moisture under the wax causing spoilage.
Thanks. I have been reading up on cheese caves to see what I am doing wrong. Whenever we put anything in ours it molds up after a few weeks. We have a couple tiny bar fridges for caves, which have no way to ventilate, and have a freezer compartment which drips on everything constantly. Definitely going to need something better in the future, once we can afford it.
What we have been doing to remedy the mold situation is to keep the cheeses in the open air to dry which has made them as I told you previously.
I am planning to make a gouda, I will try it once again in the fridge for a few weeks, but maybe leave it open a crack for some ventilation. But I am also going to wax early, as you suggested.
Thanks a lot.
I found a remedy for the condensation dripping on everything (I've been having troubles with my cheese cave too!) I creased a thin plastic cutting board down the middle and attached to the top of the cheese cave so condensation drops on the tented plastic and runs down the sides rather than on my cheese!
Good luck!
Anut
That's brilliant. I will have to try that in my cheese caves. Thanks a lot.