Smears

Since I have quarantined the blue moldy cheeses and cleaned the cheese mats and boards of mold, things are looking up in the aging room. The smears on the rinds are developing well and seem to have stopped the growing of mold. The cheese at the top has a nice orange color which is evidence of healthy Brevibacterium linens development. The smear has a typical smear flavor, and I am confident that this will turn into a nice tasting cheese.
The second cheese is a kind of mystery how it turned into what it is. I suspect that I smeared the cheese with Geotrichum candidum, a aerobic fungus which creates a white mold. So far the cheese looks reminiscent of Brie and Camembert.
The third cheese is also developing a smear of B. linens. The cheese younger and harder than the first one.
The last cheese is a hard cheese made with a thermophilic starter and has still some Penicillium roqueforti growth as well as some white molds. I brush this of once in a while to keep the growth under control.