Mind and cheddar blown!

 

I love waxing my cheeses!  Unwaxed cheeses keep you awake at night, worrying about the hordes of molds and yeasts that always threaten to colonize the rind of the cheese.  I think that those unwaxed cheeses also look kinda naked without that smooth, silky outer coating.

There are more advantages besides aesthetics--properly waxed cheeses create a hermetic seal, sealing in moisture and sealing out the baddies.  

That's not to say nothing can go wrong with a waxed cheese....

Today, I noticed that my cheddar was rounder than usual.  

I tapped on it, and it gave a hollow sound...

Oh, no!  Had my cheddar "blown"?

There was no ignoring it, so I made the decision to open it up (after googling "blown cheese")

Sure enough, there were the tale-tell signs of a blown cheese:  horizontal fractures that seemed to follow the curd structure.  This could be due to some innocuous bacteria producing gas, (which you actually want in some cheeses, like Jarlsberg.)

The cheese smelled fine, so I know it was still edible. So, I ate some.  

It was very mild--not surprising, since this Cheddar 

was not supposed to be ready to eat until the fall!

This cheese was my first attempt at using a large amount of milk--four gallons!  I am sad that I had to open it so soon.  I guess we'll be eating a lot of grilled cheese sandwiches for a while!