Well, my wife and I have been having a few more issues with our cheese making. We had waxed our first cheddar (farmhouse) and had it aging. I had been flipping it occasionally and after ~ 1 month, I saw dark spots under the wax. We removed the wax and found that there was several areas of mold and no side was completely free of it. We rubbed the unwaxed cheese with vinegar and have had it drying at room temp for two days. What should be do with it? Can we reuse the wax we took off of it? This wax has mold on it and we weren’t quite sure what to do about that.
The other cheddar we have is a 1lb block of chipotle stirred curd. My inquiry with this one is mostly, how would we be able to tell if there was mold under the wax? There were dark spots in the cheese from the beginning.
Lastly, we began again a parmesan a couple weeks ago. The temperatures have been slightly too warm, but I suspect the humidity of being close to where it should be. I have been flipping the cheese daily and I’m finding that there is a lot of moisture still on the cheese. In fact, today I spotted our first speck of mold. This cheese was soaked in the salt bath and I guess I was just expecting it to harden up a little. Any thoughts? Can we wipe the mold off this one with vinegar? and if so do we need to let it airdry?
Sorry for all the questions in one post. thanks for the help!
Thats why I like to rub down the outside with salt, only the good mold will grow in it. In your case if its black grey mold then wiping down with vinigar would be the best thing to do then rub down with salt, when its dry then rewax the whole thing. U can reuse the wax as long as u heat it up to about 75C, make sure it does not smoke. Once the wax is sterilized u can reuse it.
A farmhouse cheddar is ready to eat at only one month. You might consider just slicing it up and consuming it. But if you want to age it longer, yes, you should rewax it.
On the origin of the mold: how long did you air dry it before you waxed it? Was there a good dry rind formed on it, or was it still somewhat moist? Moisture under the wax would have encouraged mold growth; and if it was in the open air for several days, mold spores would certainly have found it. Neil’s right - its a good practice to wipe down the cheese with brine, vinegar or a dry salt rub prior to waxing to prevent this kind of contamination.
Satchmoan..
You’ve received good advice.
The only thing that I can offer is to make sure that you completely cover the wheel with wax.
I still brush my wax on, and recently discovered a problem on one of my wheels of cheddar.
Upon closer inspection I discovered a VERY small pinhole in the wax and sure enough, there is a nice big dark spot right at that point, under the wax.
With brushing, it’s extremely hard to get the wheel completely covered. I normally put on three coats and still have to put it in a very strong light to make sure there’s not any of these tiny pinholes. I guess I missed this one and now I’m going to have to open it up and take care of the problem.
My next project is going to build a waxing station for my cheeses.
I want a container that is dedicated to each color of wax that I use (red, natural & black) and to have a dipping device for the wheels.
Every time I see a wheel that has been dipped (instead of being brushed) I turn a little green with envy.
Also, it seems to me that those that dip their cheeses probably get a better covering of wax than I am able to get with my bristle brush.
Hope this information helps.
If I may butt in.
The book I am reading offers a cure for mould which I have never heard of, so I offer it here. Hot Salt Water Cure
Boil some water with about 3 tablespoons of salt per quart. Then use a spatula to lower the cheese into the boiling water.
Let the cheese remain under water for about 30 seconds, then remove. The mould will be gone, and usually the smell associated with the mould will have disappeared.
I have not tried this, so I cannot vouch for it’s efficiency. Without rancour, I don’t suffer from moulds.
I agree, Rich.
Mold does seem to find us all eventually.
Keeping the proper humidity is such a tricky part of the equation that it’s pretty much impossible to not have it rear it’s ugly head from time to time.
From what I understand it’s a problem that even the professionals have to deal with, even with their high tech temperature and humidity controlled caves.
wipe ur cheese with salt and vinegar, until is clean, dry it for one to two days until is dry outside, then re wax , the hot wax will sanities the surface , and then age it again
i did not like the boiling idea, as the hot wax temperature is over the water boiling temp which will do the best job
i did not like the boiling idea, as the hot wax temperature is over the water boiling temp which will do the best job
heat the wax just before smoking
That is assuming you want to wax. If you want a dry rind then perhaps a ‘boil’ would be acceptable?
i have never thought of boiling as an option, heating the cheese to boiling temp is not acceptable for any cheese, this will kill all good bacteria and melt the wheel and deform it’s shape
I’m not advocating this, just reporting on a book I’m reading.
IMHO I doubt that 30 seconds would ‘melt and deform’ the cheese, but it will certainly kill the baddies and the smell.It would be worth a try.
It’s too easy to lightly dismiss a new idea without putting it to a test.
I agree with you about dismissing without checking it out. So, go for it. Then you can let us all know what happened. Experimentation is essential for process improvement.
I agree with you about dismissing without checking it out. So, go for it. Then you can let us all know what happened. Experimentation is essential for process improvement.
Just out of interest. Today I made an ‘Edam’ a soft full fat cheese with a buttery taste. Part of the method is to part press it to 30lbs, then to remove it from the press and place it in hot whey for 5 minutes, then to repress to 30lbs again, and again, this is a 3 repeat process.
I took the first to 125F, the second to the same and the final dip to 145F. This produced the best knit I have ever made and the surface is extremely smooth.
The cheese didn’t change shape or distort. I will consider this as a method to get a smooth rind in the future. It would be worthy of testing, if you suffer from mould.
