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Hi All,

I have been away for a couple of weeks, and left a Lancashire style cheese in the cave, unattended.

As you can see from the below pictures (before and after brushing), the blue mould completely dominated the surface.  Is this amount of blue mould in my cave something to be concerned about?  Have others experienced this level of mould after leaving a cheese for a similar length of time?  How does one go about hiring a trusted cheese-sitter?

Best wishes,
Neil

Just prior to starting back up in cheese making I completely cleaned out my cave with a spray bottle of diluted chlorine bleach as I knew it would have blue mold residue from prior makes.  That stuff will linger around forever if you don't take some positive action to remove it.

I have to go out of town a lot and my cat-sitter is afraid to open my cheese cave for fear of being contaminated herself.  Sometimes I coat my immature pressed cheeses that are more prone to mold development with oil then wipe it off with a clean piece of cheesecloth when I get home. 

You could always try draping a clean piece of, single layer, butter muslin over them.  It seems to be dense enough a weave, 90 TPI, to keep mold out.

Quote from: John@PC on February 16, 2015, 05:23:23 PM
I have to go out of town a lot and my cat-sitter is afraid to open my cheese cave for fear of being contaminated herself.  Sometimes I coat my immature pressed cheeses that are more prone to mold development with oil then wipe it off with a clean piece of cheesecloth when I get home.

Do you think that short term vacuum bagging would accomplish the same thing?

I think it would Kern but bagging can create wrinkles in cheeses that don't have a developed rind.  I did just that with a 2 week old Manchego and when I removed from the bag it did have surface wrinkles on the sides .  That said the cheese was pristine and smelled fantastic when I opened the bag.  I may try it again with a polycarbonate "ring" to keep it from wrinkling.