I finally made some time last night to tend to my cheeses (probably a week overdue):
The manchego is definitely faring better in the fridge - molds are at bay, although from the slight cracking, maybe it's not humid enough. I added a little salt to make sure no more molds show up, and oiled it again.
I wasn't sure how the scraping was really supposed to be performed for the bleu - was I supposed to kind of smear the mold, or scrape it all off? I ended up just scraping it off because the top layer of cheese was a little slimey (like you would see on the outside of a store-bought wrapped bleu that's been wrapped for awhile). It's actually really starting to look like a real bleu! It compared well to the Point Reyes Bleu we had with dinner last night (which was the original host mold). This could be really good in a few months. I re-pierced to make sure there was going to be enough internal mold.
The brie are getting a few other strange colors on them - some red/pink color and a yellow spot. It doesn't really look like mold, but I don't know what else it could be. The white mold is obviously dying off, so that probably leaves them a little vulnerable. I decided to unwrap them and see if the white mold will grow back. Meanwhile, the one I cut and shoved the two halves back together seems to be knitting back together just fine!
And here is the entire cheese collection at this point:
After playing with the cheeses, we opened some of Megan's wine to have with dinner. She still didn't want a full glass, but agreed that it was getting much better. With my less discerning palette, I was fine with a full glass! I bet it will be even better tonight now that it's had some air. At about 13 months old, I imagine it's about hitting its peak. I think we'll try it again in another 3 months or so. It might be even better then. If not, I will assume it has hit its peak. Here it is next to our standby, TJ's Coastal (which Megan had to drink). You really can't beat this Castoro sourced chard for $4.
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