[Cheese] Hmm......No mold yet

[dean crabtree]

Brian <mavityre at comcast.net> wrote:   When should I start to see blue mold forming on a gorgonzola I made 12 days ago?  
   
  Brian,
   
  I'm sticking more with a stilton-esqe blue and have not made a gorgonzola, but I would think that you should have seen some mold within the first week.  I'm wondering if your innoculant was active.  I used a suspension (ala Fankhauser) of Maytag Blue as my initial mold culture.
   
  Did you ever get this cheese to firm up?  I think you said that that it was a whole lot more "jiggly" than you were hoping for.  I did find an interesting alternate proceedure step for stilton.  You know the Stilton folks are very protective of their name and product, but there are a lot of varietions even within their guild.  While we have always read that Stilton must have its' rind, and is aged in-the-air, etc.  I see where the Clawson Dairy actually wraps the de-hooped cheese in plastic film to help support it (step 6 of http://www.clawson.co.uk/making_stilton.asp) now, somehow I have trouble seeing cheesemakers in the 1800's running down to Sam's Club for a big 'ol roll of plastic film)
   
  I do lightly press the curds because like Jack said, a smaller blue cheese just needs it.  Would I like to make a 8"diameter x 12" wheel of stilton?  You bet.  Do I have a cheesepot anywhere near big enough to set a curd?  Not on your life.  So I make little blues of about 2 - 3 pounds.  I do now pierce the wheels from the side and not the ends.  It does make for a pretty veining, from the center out.
   
  If you look on the individual sites of the Stilton guild, you see that in addition to Stilton, they offer three, four, or five different types of blue cheese.  Different fat contents, with or without color.  So even if one misses the mark on making a particular cheese, you see that you can have a delightful blue cheese.
   
  On triers:  If you go to stiltoncheese.com and click on the "antique" link you will go to tools of the trade.  Look at that "cheese iron" OMG, that's a giant plug that they say they take out of a wheel.  Maybe Jack can make some simple triers like we see on those websites and offer them for sale.
   
  All the best,
   
  Dean C.

		
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