Hi,

This Romano is about 3 weeks old.  There was a little bluish-white mold on it which wiped off easily with vinegar but these darker spots don’t come off with wiping.  What should I do?

Is it salvageable?  I’ll admit that this was only my second cheese that I have ever made.  Maybe it is too moist?

Thanks,
Ian

I would scrape it off and then re-wipe with vinegar.
Welcome to the forum!!

Hello Ian and welcome to the forum.  I have to admit that I have not personally made a Romano.  I have had, on two occasions, some bright yellow spots on Gouda, which I could never explain, and which would not wipe off.  They did not affect the final cheese, and I am still looking for explanations.  It might help if you could share some details of the processing of your cheese.  It might give some clues.  And what is the environment that it has been aging in?  Temp, humidity, and what is near it?  If we turn over enough rocks we may come up with an answer.  Also, what was your first cheese, and how did it turn out?  I’m by no means sure, but I suspect the problem is environmental.

The recipe I used for the Romano is from Ricki’s book, made with local, organic, raw cow’s milk, yummm.

For storage, I have it in a cooler on a piece of wood.  The cooler is in a cold part of my house and sits at about 50˚F with 60% humidity.

After readying the first reply, I scraped all of the miscolored cheese off and patted the whole thing with vinegar.  Do you think coating with olive oil and salt would help?

Salt would be a def step for protection, any cheese i would recommend wiping it down with salt, I use fine sea salt, its one of our best friends in warding off bacteria.