I made a cheddar last Friday. Everything went really well during the make. Things changed after it came out of the mold. It was pressed for 27 hours, 110 lbs, 6” mold. But when I put it to dry, there were copious amounts of whey that still settled out. Never had that happen before with a cheddar. So it took 48 hours before it was dry enough to seal. Now comes the “Summer Effect:”
First, during the drying there were lots of gnats that were attracted to the wheel. I solved that by draping a cheese cloth over the cheese. This may have slowed the drying somewhat, but it kept the gnats off the surface.
The second, and more problematic, thing is that when I uncovered it this morning to seal it, I found that mold was already forming in lots of places. I customarily do a dry salt rub prior to sealing, but my rub this morning was a bit more pronounced. The salt acts like sandpaper, and the mold disappeared easily. Hopefully I was thorough enough and the mold will not reappear during aging.
