Things that grow in the night

When I first started making cheeses I played it safe. Fresh cheeses, washed rinds, absolutely no scary stuff growing on my cheese. I lived vicariously through beautiful colorful photos of bloomy rinds and wedges of colorful cheeses purchased from fine cheese counters everywhere. I wasn't really afraid of making those cheeses as much as I was afraid of growing some unknown deathly mold on my aged cheeses, killing all who dared to taste forth. One author said no red, another said a particular shade of red was great, no cat hair mold unless you want it but be careful because you just can't go back once it is introduced, the options and possibilities were endless as were the imaginable opportunities to fail and make a lethal weapon! Of course I was living on borrowed time.

My first batch of cheese allowed to bloom was a nail biting moment which spanned months. I didn't really have a plan, just an unaged raw milk tomme and a beautiful bloomy rind dream. I bravely removed my chosen tommes from the brine and placed them on the aging room shelves. I anxiously flipped them every day, watching for the first signs of the feared deadly "la fleur." While I admit my reflex at the first signs of any color was to run for the brine and wash it away, I did refrain and learned to enjoy patting down the new flora that grew and even looked forward to seeing new colors as the rind continued to develop. Fortunately, the first batches turned out amazing. And months later the cheese was more incredible. Unfortunately, all the cheeses that were unsold between that first batch and all the cheeses I put away from the spring make season that followed were victims of the May flooding in our area. The flood is a story on its own for a future post.

Jumping ahead in time, past a tumultuous summer in the aging room, we are finally starting to see cheeses we are happy with, and many beautiful flowery rinds. I may be a young cheesemaker but I feel like while our first year has been full of ups, ACS & ADGA wins, and downs, I couldn't have imagined a better learning opportunity and I have certainly become much braver about my willingness to let the scary things grow in the night.