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I started a blue cheese a week or so ago and haven't looked at it for awhile, so I took a peek inside the cave today and low and behold, it really is blue!  My question though is this--though there isn't any black mold or fuzzyness, it does smell mighty musty.  Is this okay?  I'm flying blind on this one and since I won't even attempt to try a piece for another sixty days or so, any insight into what it's supposed to look/smell like while it is aging would be appreciated.







--edit: moved images to another host

Ok, first up, I can't see the pics, so I just offering suggestions here.  I was reading my book on blues, as i am wanting to try one, and it said that the exterior mould can be straped off regularly if you want.  If left on, is would develop a rather strong smell.

So maybe that is what you are experiencing?

Wow, very cool looking cheese.

Yes it will smell musty, not a problem. Some blues due to their againg environment can get slimy and that should be scraped off monthly or whenever you fancy. But a rind like yours is perfect don't mess with it. If this is a regular blue did you salt the outside? Because most regular blues develop blue very slowly on the outside becasue of the salting of the rind.

No, I didn't salt the rind, just brined it for an hour before I added the inoculation to the outside and the holes (yeah, I screwed up by forgetting to add it to the curd itself).

It'll be interesting to see what happens but it will still be a good cheese.

Those are fantastic pictures.  I like the fact that you have a background.  Most of my pictures include unintended background items like my dogs or laundry.

I'll post some links I found for building a $10 lightbox and photography technique in just a minute, but it's really, really easy to take good pics even with a cheap camera.

Nice looking cheese Panda!