Hi guys,
This weekend I’m going to finally embark on making my first bleu or stilton cheese. I should have my wine fridge in by then so that I can control the temps during aging.
This past weekend I picked up a package of bleu from the store that had been waxed and quite honestly this was the best bleu I’ve ever tasted. Nice and creamy with a fantastic salty bite.
I’ve never heard of anyone waxing a bleu yet since that time I’ve found a site which says it can be done to control the humidity during the aging of the cheese. This might be a better solution for me than trying to manually control the humidity with a pan of water in the fridge.
Since I’ve gotten nothing but good advice from this forum I thought I would ask everyone’s opinion on this before proceeding. I don’t want to do anything to ruin the cheese or inhibit the mold growth.
Thanks in advance.
Dave

The problem is that the blooming is required to mature the cheese, maybe after 3-6 months wrap it but it will affect the taste if its not allowed to mature.
I have never seen waxed bloomed cheese in the store.

You need exposure to air for the blue mold to form. I even puncture my blue cheeses, 3 or 4 times with knitting needles during the first month or so of aging in order to expose the inner parts of the cheese round to air. Once you’ve developed the mold you want, then it makes sense to stop the aerobic mold growth, cut off air and rely on anaerobic bacteria to finish the aging and texturing of the cheese. You will see many commercial blue cheeses that are tightly wrapped in foil—that is why, in order to cut of exposure to air. So, waxing would be another way to do that, but don’t do it too early or you lose the blue mold formation and the necessary early aerobic maturing.

Okay, it looks like the jury is in. No wax for my blue, at least until it is nearly complete.
As we speak I have my first stilton in the pot. In another 45 minutes I will cut the curd and begin pressing between boards. I’m both excited and nervous about making this cheese both because of some of the horror stories I’ve read and also becasue of possible cross contamination between the blue and my other cheeses.
I plan on making several of these over the next couple of months and using my wine fridge to age them apart from my other cheeses. I also plan on being extra diligent on cleaning up my pots and utensils after making the blues.
Even though I’m sure it would be harmless, the thought of a blue colby just doens’t really set too well with me.
Thanks for all of the responses and all of the great advice I’ve gotten from this site.
I feel that I am getting fairly good at making my own cheese but I’m also finding out that there is no end to learning about this art form. The good news is that I’m having a blast while learning.
I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving and a great weekend.
Dave