I have some aging in the cellar (about 1 month old). They are super fuzzy, but I don’t know if I need to wrap them or not. It looks like the guy in the link above did not wrap his.
If u have cheese paper then wrap it, if u dont, and use something else, u risk a water/moisture buildup and then bad bacteria. Also watch that it does not over ripen and go runny. it needs to breath.
Camembert should not be pressed at all. It is made in camembert plastic baskets left to drain turning every 2-3 hours for 24-48 hours and then transfered to the cave.
It’s mentioned in a french cheeses book to place a fitted metal disk weighing about 90 grams (2 lb) for the first time only.
Hi Sandor, we aren’t really talking about pressing the cheese. We are talking about the ripening stage and wether or not to wrap it.
What would you recommend wrapping it with if I don’t have cheese paper? I have parchment paper and tin foil.
Neil, if I don’t wrap it I risk moisture build up? Right now I have it sitting in a small igloo cooler in my cellar where it is at 60% humidity and 40-50˚ F. It looks really good, very, very furry.
OK, I carefully removed the furry hockey pucks from the bamboo mats they were sitting on. One had a little blue mold on it, but they were mostly very white and fuzzy. After removing, I wrapped them (somewhat loosely) in parchment paper and then tinfoil and I put them in my refrigerator in hopes that I will see them and attend to them.
So what should I do now? I started these March 13th. How will I know when they are done?
Usually I get mold after 4-7 days, at 12-14 deg C and 90% RH. Then I wrap the cheese in wrinkled alum foil (as I learned in the class I’ve passed), this way a little air is trapped around the cheese and the ageing continues, but slower because of the lower temp (4 deg C) in the fridge. From now it takes about 3-4 weeks until ripe.
After I cut from the cheese, I wrap it in parchment + alum foil.
Alex, my fridge is 8C , so it needs more time for mold to start bloom
It’s OK Nabil. Before I had my cave adjusted fridge, I used to ripen mine Camemberts in a plastic box with little holes around to be able to control the humidity inside by opening and closing them with masking tape and opening/closing the lid as well. I make Camembert by draining about 1/3 of the whey after 3 times of stirring and then adding not less than 80 gr of salt to a 3 liters batch (this is very important) stirring gently twice within 5 minutes to dissolve the salt. Now I ladle the curds in to the molds and drain for about 36-48 hours (at room temp) by turning the cheese every 2-3 hours all the time keeping them in the molds. Now I put them on wire nets in the box at 4 deg C, and turn them every other day. Blooming usually starts after 10-14 days because of the low temperature. when the surfaces are covered about 75%, I used to wrap them in wrinkled alum foil. The full fur should appear within 4-5 days. From now on the full ripening starts as per your taste. Of course, the more you drain in the molds the blooming will start earlier and the inside will be less runny.
As we do not have the ideal conditions, the name of the game is - patience.
All the above before the “cave age”.
