Cracks, Surface - Repairing

[Moonshae]

Hi all, I made a gouda a few days ago, and it's been aging at 50 degrees. This is my first hard cheese. I've been turning it twice a day since then, and this morning, I noticed a small crack. So I did some searching here about cracks, and it seems my fridge was too dry inside...I was expecting to have the opposite problem, the fridge would be too wet. Anyway, in my search I saw the remedy for this problem is to enclose it in a container of some sort with a loose lid to allow air transfer, and to put a bowl of water in the fridge to raise the humidity, which I did.

My confusion comes when people have said the crack will heal. Will it actually close up and reknit together, or just close up? Do I have to worry about a mold infection in the crack? Is there anything else I can do to help fix the crack?

[Cheese Head]

Moonshae, this is a common problem as you've found, see our Wiki: Surface Defects, Cracks which has some suggestions.

The best you can do is to try and get it to heal, but it will not re-knit. Peronsally I've found it very hard to keep mold out of the cracks, so the sooner you vinegar and salt rub it and vacuum seal I think the better. Or just live with fighting the mold.

[cheezwhizz]

   Hi Moonshae.  I had the same problem a few months ago. 5-6 days after the crack appeared i saw  mold starting to grow in it. I immediately picked out the specks of mold with the point of a knife. Then  filled the crack with lard (rendered pork fat). The cheese has been aging for 2 months now and still no sign of mold in the crack. Or as John said, you can vac pack it if your moisture content is right.

[KosherBaker]

Anyway, in my search I saw the remedy for this problem is to enclose it in a container of some sort with a loose lid to allow air transfer, and to put a bowl of water in the fridge to raise the humidity, which I did.

Are you sure the bowl of water isn't supposed to go inside the container?

[blairw75]

I had a similar problem to you with a cheddar.
I rubbed the entire cheese with olive oil then placed it in a container and put it in my cave. Check and turn it every day and rub more olive oil on it if needed. Mine healed in 48hrs.