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Tamara from Australia again,

Also made a blue 4 weeks ago. Pierced it after 2 weeks and tasted it yesterday. The texture and flavour are good but there are only tiny pin pricks of blue in the cheese - not threads of blue like I would have liked.

Do these continue to grow over time and if not, what can I do next time to get more blue growing?

Thanks,

TAMARA

Can you post a pic? Are you saying it's not blue enough on the inside or the outside? What is the texture like? How is the humidity where you are aging?
We need a bit more info,
Pam

A pic would definately help, it really puts things into context ....

I am only a beginner and am trying to glean every bit of info i can ...

4 weeks seems young to have propper blue developed ..... i thought the ideal age was 8 - 11 weeks ..... but again i am a beginner so maybe someone can correct me ??

Also i know that multiple piercing can add extra blue to the cheese .... if the mould growns the holes closed it cuts off the oxygen and the bacteria stop growing ....

I've attached an extract of linuxboy's blue piercing schedule.

-Boofer-

You can get away with doing it only once if the paste is firm enough that they don't close over, and if your hygiene quality is good enough that you don't have stray mold covering the holes and preventing oxygen from going in.

Thanks guys for all your replies. I will get my act together and get a photo next time. To give you more info, the surface is fairly mottled blue with a little white mould but nothing like some of the funky mouldy versions I've seen on this site. The mould is very low to the surface of the cheese.  I was actually more referring to the mould IN the cheese rather than on the surface. I matured it for 4 weeks at about 90% (I think)  humidity (how can I accurately measure the humidity?). The texture of the cheese is very much like a softening brie/blue like a cambazola but just tiny specks of blue rather than blue growing in the piercings but I never knew you should pierce it again after 4 weeks and again a few weeks later. That makes perfect sense so thanks, Boofer. I suppose I will pierce them again tonight and see how it goes and will keep you updated. By the way, I use a meat thermometer to pierce as the holes are a little bigger than with a skewer and so would hopefully generate more oxygen and mould development.

Thanks again to you all. If any of you have any ideas on my Morbier problem, perhaps you can search for that post made just before my 'blue' post.

Regards from Downunder,

TAMARA

Another question for you all, if you don't mind...

If you are piercing a second or third time and you have already wrapped the cheese (I was told to wrap after 4 weeks and then age for a further 8 weeks), can the mould continue to grow in the new piercings if the cheese is wrapped ie. is there enough oxygen, or do I need to leave them unwrapped for more mould to grow?

Thanks,

TAMARA

Wrapping with cheese paper does not cut off all the oxygen, so yes, the blue will continue to grow. However, blues often give off a lot of ammonia. If there isn't enough air circulation, the ammonia will choke the blue mold. Assuming that your humidity and cave conditions are acceptable, I would wait until 8 or 10 weeks to wrap.

Strain is also important. Some strains give more blue than others...
Tan

your curds have to be firm enough when you mold them ( and the right size)  that they will mold and stick together, but  still have voids in the paste. The voids are where the "veins " form when you supply them with oxygen when you pierce. I have been able to accomplish this in my home setting by pressing the curds in the draining bag between 2 boards with 8 lbs wt, turning once, overnight before milling and salting. This was suggested by someone here and it worked great. The last 3 2# Stiltons have veined very evenly and very well. This came after 5 or 6 good tasting, but poorly blued cheeses. My last 3  looked like "Chilipepper's" cheese #18 if any of you remember that post.(I think it was #18). T-Bird.

Even for a small size blue, 60 days I would say is a minimum.