As you can see, the mold is sporadic. It's here and there, but definitely NOT everywhere as it should be.
The mold did, however, migrate to cover the bottom of the drying rack. Yes, I know this is not an official cheese mat, but it seemed like it would work. Wrong again! The mold wrapped around the rack, and I could turn it upside down without any cheese coming off. I wound up chipping off the cheese.
And you can see how it turned out. It is definitely not a smooth, creamy style cheese, which I think it should be. Yes, I did taste it. It was delicious -- the taste reminded me of something between Camembert and cream cheese, except it's harder and drier than cheddar.
Although there were no warnings about keeping temperature and humidity just right during aging of St. Maure, it is obvious that the cheese got too dry. I will try this again, as the flavor was heavenly. We just need to work on the texture.
14 comments:
Yes, it's to dry. Camenbert and St Maure are to me, two completely different cheeses. But they can be aged together, cause of use of the same mould. You don't need to mist the mould onto Camenbert. You can inoculate it with the starter. Turn your oldest cheeses manualy first. You will then also help the newer cheeses with the spores you have on your hands.
Heres what I do; For mould growth, I use an old fridge set down to 13C, with a oven pan with water and a few bricks standing up out of the water. That gives me aprox: 97% humidity.
I don't use molds. I drain the curds in a cloth for two days and roll them like cigarettes or a fat sausage with the help of a sushi mat. And then roll it down onto a clean, dry sushi mat for a few days drying in room temperature, befor putting it into the old fridge. A low set fan and an insect net helps. Turn the cheeses onto new mats so the rind dryes evenly. I use those umbrellas that people use over their cakes at teaparties in the summertime.
What you are looking for is to not dry the whole cheese out. Just to get an even dry rind, befor putting it into the old fridge.
When the mould grows, it does like to cling to mesh and sushi mats. But with that rind, the whole layer doesn't come off as often. But the ones that did, I ate myself :-)
But molds are fine though! Thats just a nother way to do it :-) Just check your temp and humidity, and you'll be fine!
I don't know much about cheese and cheese making - but I do know the last pic' makes me want to sit down with a box of water crackers or a loaf of crusty french bread and nosh on all the cheese I see between the rinds. YUM!
SkippyMom, we can share. I'll take the rinds :-)
Ooooh, this looks like it would be lovely baked in a Tartiflette, which is a French baked dish of thinly sliced potatoes, bacon (lardons), a little white wine, cream, and usually reblochon cheese. I think even though yours is hard, it would probably melt just fine. I'm getting really hungry looking at it!
Thanks for all the suggestions. I will be trying again very soon!
I came to post practically exactly what Caprifool posted.
No moulds, just rolled sausage shapes, using a fridge and water...
Delicious....
Cool! :-) Also, I have found it needs to be an older fridge. New ones can't be set at 13C cause its considered to warm now a days.
A friend of mine is very ill and could loose her life from eating cheese made from unpasterized milk.
http://www.doh.wa.gov/Publicat/2009_news/09-031.htm
just an fyi
Thank you for the link to that article; however, the only milk that is contaminated with listeria is milk from a goat that has listeriosis, which is fatal within 24 hours of the onset of symptoms. So, if one of my goats had listeriosis, I would be the first to know. The symptoms are unmistakable, since it's nickname is "circling disease."
I hope your friend improves rapidly. Generally, IV antibiotics work very well, whether the patient is goat or human. I have a friend who had listeriosis during pregnancy, and the challenge was getting an accurate diagnosis in her case, because she had not consumed any of the "forbidden" foods. She did fully recover though, and her son is almost a teenager now.
There are certainly a lot of details like that to take into consideration. That’s a great point to bring up. mold maker
We have just started making our own cheese. We turn our cheeses every day or so, in order to avoid the mould tangling in the rack.
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