Cheese Type & Number: Stilton-Style, Cheese #4

My subsequent tries at Stilton have worked well. I’ve learned a few things:

1) Use CaCl when using store-bought milk.
2) Use home-grown freshest milk I can find.
3) Don’t rely only on the mold sandwich…actually “press” the cheese under about 5# of weight for 3 or 4 hours to better bind it together.

Dave, my only suggestion is to stick with it. The ammonia smell is normal—assuming it is not toooo strong. Just use a hot knife to gently scrape off the blue crusty mold that is forming on the outside. The mold may even get a tint of yellow or brown in it. Let me know how it goes.

Rick, I made (that is, started) a blue cheese on May 18.  I decided to let the now blue rind develop naturally.  It does have some brown and even white spots on it.  I am hoping it eventually looks less blue, since that may be offputting.  I don’t expect the rind to be edible, just a funky rustic sealer.  I noticed in the recipe on the Cheesemaking. com site for Stilton, he doesn’t pierce the thing for at least a month.  I wonder what are the advantage or disadvantage of this (apparently traditional) practice.

if u look at the pic I posted on my Blue, u can notice nice blueing inside, I have not needled it and will not, just depends on how u make it. Mine is not presses so thiers lots of room inside for growth. From what I have read, Blue need space inside to grow, if its solid then its more solid cheese, with just growth on the areas that have been needled.