[Cheese] mold (the bad kind)

[Calvin Gadbury]

Agreed:

For those who would like to look it up for themselves:

It is in Cheese and Fermented Mild Foods by Frank V. Kozikowski,
second edition, third printing on pages 647-649.

For those who don't have access to the above and are interested I
have quoted the main points below:

"Paraffin wax is customarily appled to young cheese encased in cloth
bandages at
a temperature of 118 degrees C for 5 seconds.
Cheese paraffin wax loses some water, but at a much lower rate than  unwaxed
cheese.
Carbon dioxide, Hydrogen sulfide and other gases can diffuse through the
wax."

"Other forms of wax are available. One (Kozikwoski names these flexible
waxes, some call cheese waxes, they have divers working temperatures) is
applied over the first paraffin wax layer, usually for long hold, ripened
cheeses.
Compared to paraffin wax, this second form of wax displays more flexibility
and a lower water vapor transmission.  However, it does not provide as rapid
a CO2 passage.
  This is an important factor which limits its use in the early period
of ripening when Carbon dioxide is produced most extensively. The second wax
layer lor long hold cheese is often applied after 30 days or longer, using
the
same principles and precautions for paraffin wax."

"A third form is a low temperature, flexible type.  It is used for 5 to 10
gift wheels...
Cheese is dipped into this wax at about 80 degrees C for 6 seconds, which
does not give it
the same protection against mold as the other two forms of wax...

Limiting the cheese dipping to 6 seconds prevents fat oiling-off and
discoloration...

Bubbles of air and mold growth under cheese wax surfaces are prevented by
waxing only cheese which
has dry surfaces, and by using the maximum recommended heating temperatures
for wax."

He also has a table to go with the above that repeats and elaborates on the
above I won't repeat here,
but the main points for protection against mold under the wax are:

Wax only cheese with dry surface
Heat wax to 118C (245F)
Immerse in wax for 5 to 6 seconds


Calvin











----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jack Schmidling" <arf at mc.net>
To: "The Cheese Makers' Digest" <cheese at hbd.org>
Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 11:53 PM
Subject: Re: [Cheese] mold (the bad kind)


> Calvin Gadbury wrote:
> > Some possibilities to ruminate on:
> >
> >
> > 1.  Paraffin is more brittle and subject to cracking than cheese wax,
> > therefore mold can access cheese through tiny cracks caused by
> > mechanical damage.
>
> According to Kozikowski, paraffin allows needed gas transfer and cheese
> wax does not.
>
> He recommends dipping in very hot paraffin and ripening for the first 30
> days or so and then dipping in a more permanent (and pretty) cheese wax.
>
> js
>
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