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Thinking about the port cheese un-knitting.  Hope this one stays together.

My port cheddar had no issues but my madeira cheddar had knitting problems. Vacuum packing it helped though...

I stand corrected.  I knew one of them came undone.  I am still trying to figure out why this never seems to be an issue with ale washed cheeses.  If the oiled one stays together it may be a bigger mystery.

Maybe the beer cheeses have no problems due to a lower alcohol percent. Just a guess...

I still don't think the answer to alcohol, wife keeps telling me that "alcohol isn't the answer to your problems" LOL  My reasoning behind that is the fact that I used straight merlot in the colby I did and only adjusted the PH.  The alcohol in that wine should have been close to yours although merlot is not a fortified wine.

LOL! ;-)


It could be so many things including PH, pressing, salting, curd moisture etc.


:-) Danbo

Yep, another mystery for the ages. LOL

Quote from: Danbo on February 20, 2015, 03:19:50 PM
Awakephd: Would you think that I'm safe since I used it from a sealed bought glas?

I think it certainly improves your chances ... Presumably the bought pesto either has preservatives in it, or was canned in such a way as to preclude botulism. Actually, thinking about it -- just boiling the ingredients might not be enough, since it takes heat above 100˚C to kill botulism spores. This might be a good question to address to someplace like a state agricultural agency, or something like that ...

Quote from: Danbo on February 20, 2015, 03:19:50 PM
Would you think that I'm safe since I used it from a sealed bought glas?

I would think that there is enough acid in the cheese to prevent botulism from forming.  I think mold and rot would be more likely that botulism.  Who knows?  Do you have a cat?   

Hmm ... not necessarily. pH needs to be below 4.6 to prevent botulism growth. That will be true of some cheeses, but many (most?) are going to be more like 5.1-5.3, I think ... but let me be the first to point out that I am out of my depth here. We need an expert!

Yes, it would be great with some expert afvice on this.


I assume that there could also be a risk when using sage, peppercorns etc.


Has someone out there expertise in this area?


:-) Danbo

Check with Tiarella Danbo.  I think she's pretty much put everything into a cheese from time to time.

Thanks - I've send her a PM. :-)

Hi Danbo!  I have not actually put every known substance into a cheese but I have tried a few things.  I've only put chives into cheese but I have put many leaves and also birch bark on cheese as well as shiitake mushroom.  (dried and crumbled....well the work "crumbled" doesn't give a true impression....I had to beat the hell out of it to get it into smaller pieces and then put it dry into a food processor.  I also tried using a grater on it and that works fairly well on both hard dry mushrooms and tender fingers)

I don't worry to much about mold and things like that......mostly because after thinking I could get totally neurotic and fearful about it I realized that zillions of cheeses had been made under almost every condition and most cheese eaters live.  I believe that there is almost everything floating around in the air and it's all about making the bio-terrain of the rind inhospitable to the things we want to avoid.  Yes, dried leaves have plenty of mold on them but maybe dry your own and don't have it hang in a dusty drying barn, don't leave it around thrown on floors until processing, etc. 

I think if I wanted to make a similar cheese my first experiment would be very high quality basil (from the garden) dried and crumbled into small pieces that I'd add to the cheese.  Then for the outside I'd take basic pesto but thicken it by adding more dried basil.....or maybe I'd make pesto using coconut oil (maybe use a version with less coconut flavor) so that when at cheese cave temperature it would be thick.....i'd put that on like icing a cake.  While it aged I'd watch for any patches of mold and if they appeared I'd rub a little coconut oil there to smother it.  Might just be able to rub it without adding any more oil....sure worked that way on my paprika versions.  Oh and the paprika was likely full of molds but I had no trouble with it.  Hope this helps     I don't think I'd boil the basil.  You could heat it dry in a hot oven to kill off some mold if you're concerned.  I'd google "can dried herbs carry botulism?" and see what you find.

Thanks Tiarella,


I am actually a bit paranoid about my cheeses. I'm not that good with bacteria... OMG what a hobby to choose?! ;-)


I think there is a big difference on putting things ON the cheese and IN the cheese. Inside the cheese anearobic conditions apply. As far as I know botulism is a bacteria that only lives on anerobic conditions.


Is that a problem when vacuum packing also? Oh no... Now I'm being paranoid again... ;-)