I made a stirred curd cheddar on Jan 2 this year. This is only my second one, the first turned out well.
Anyway, I had a big problem after taking the cheese out of the press. I left it out on the counter to 'dry' for a few days. Not thinking we had left the windows open and the weather changed....it ended up very humid in the house for about two days. The cheese never dried, and started growing mold. I researched and did a salt rub on it, which drew out a lot of the moisture and seemed to get rid of the mold. After about one week, I finally put it in a bag and stuck it in the cave with the intention of waxing it. Life got busy, I forgot and so it sat in the cave until today.
Is it OK that there is "unknown" mold on it?
Should I just let it age as is? Should I cut off the mold and wax it? Should I throw it away because it'll kill me?
I might suggest the following:
- Gently brush it with a dedicated cheese brush to finely remove the offending mold layer.
- Wash it gently with a vinegar and salt solution to arrest any lingering mold.
- Finally, dry it and put away in a low humidity curing box (I call them minicaves) and put that box in your "cave".
- After several days of drying in that controlled environment (don't go on vacation!), check for re-emergent mold, use a clean toothpick, if necessary, to remove it and then lightly salt the area.
- If it appears clean and without mold, wax or vacuum-seal it for long-term affinage.
An example of unwanted infection and its correction. (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,7722.msg56660.html#msg56660)
-Boofer-
What do you mean you "stuck it in a bag"? You should never put a cheese in an open bag that isn't vacuum sealed unless you want it to get moldy.
IMHO the mold looks like it has already gone too far to recover as a cheddar. You are going to end up with a blue flavor anyway, so I personally would pierce it and let it become a blue cheddar.
Embarrassingly, stuck in a bag is exactly what it sounds like :( I put it in a ziplock, squished the air out with the intention of waxing it the next day, which never happened. This poor cheese :(
I don't mind letting the mold go...I was just didn't know if it was going to kill me. I still might cut it in half, clean one like Boofer said and let the other go.
What a mess. LOL
All part of your education, Sue. You learn and move on and improve the next time around.
I've made a few boo-boos myself, but I sure try not to repeat them.
-Boofer-
So this turned into an adventure/experiment, I decided to cut the cheese in half and leave one with the mold and clean the other to leave as a cheddar. Thanks for the advice, I've been scouring the board for information.
One half I actually just cut off the mold washed with vinegar/salt and am letting it dry as boofer suggested. I'll wax it when it dries out a bit.
Here's the moldy one. There's crumbles around it from puncturing some holes in it. It smells blue, again, hopefully it doesn't kill me. :P Since I am unprepared and uneducated in blues, I put it in cheese cloth for now and am I'm letting it get some air. I'll get some wax paper and wrap it up. I have a lot of research to do in the molds, etc...
Lovely. ??? :o
-Boofer-
I have several cheddar like that. I'm not a fan of the flavor.
Those are my cheddars, that I've tried to let mould over, like they do in vermont.
In my cheeses, the blue gets deep into the wheel through cracks and the general open nature of the curd.
These cheddars will stay on my shelf until one day, they up and run away.
;D Wayne, if those are the cheddars I remember you making, I don't think they'll be running away. What were they...25 pounders? More like rolling down the street.
-Boofer-
You could always try to wash the rind with whey from your next batch.
Update...
It all went very wrong. LOL. I'm not surprised. It became very hard, crumbly and tasted "off".
The second picture shows what the other half I removed the mold and cleaned looks like today (the small piece in th upper left) . It tasted like a young cheddar, I think it will develop well.