I know, you see the question all the time... But I need a second opinion before eating this over the holidays with family.
I made two cheeses here, one with goat milk and one with cows milk. The whiter if the two being the goats milk. This was washed curd gouda style but made with greek yogurt as culture and aged 2 months. Both milks where what I would think is very high quality.
So, should I just chuck it or are they maybe edible?
To me it looks fine. Just overpressed early. If you close the rind before 2 hours, you risk locking whey inside the cheese and this is the typical result.
I definitely did overpress them early and just over pressed overall. Thanks for the help!
Ok Mike as a newbie my first reaction was oh no! Coliform contamination with the round bubbles and blown cheese with the big crack. So how do you tell? I'm glad OP asked here because I probably would have just thrown them out and grieved the loss.
To be honest, I can't tell :-). It's just what it looks like to me. Possibly late blown, but they look too jagged to me for that. But that's why I don't really like "is my cheese safe" questions :-) There is no way to know.
I defer to you, but I’d say you know what you’re looking at. Just not how to describe it. If it was contam it would be more evenly spaced consistent bubbles across the whole cross section of the wheel. And for the jagged hole- it doesn’t appear to be a blow out because it lacks consistent geometry to its cavitation. As Mike said, it appears more irregular and jagged like a seam/pressing issue. I also don’t see any obvious bulging making me think of gas build up. Take a little slice, sniff it, try a nibble.
That's some useful info about what I'm looking at from just a photo, thank you. I'm very new cheesemaker too so all instruction and advice welcome. Basically, proceed if it smells and tastes good?
Thank you. I guess our noses, taste buds and then gut is the ultimate judge if a cheese is safe!
Looks good
What kind of water did you use to wash with?
Did you use a propionic culture?
Not sure why you would ask about throwing these away. You made them, aged them, and nothing to suggest issues. Super nice.
What do you see in them that’s wrong?
Looks fine to me. A bit young. I would not make them with yogurt, it’s just the wrong culture for Gouda (buy culture, do yourself a favor. It’s reliable and will give you the right texture, aroma, flavor, and acidification schedule that works with the recipe. You will save your expensive milk and all that work harassing trying to save $7 by buying yogurt. For Gouda I recommend Danisco Choozit KAZU).
Only thing is the cows milk looks like some light blow effect which usually has to do with the feed of the cows. What they feed them for liquid milk is not always compatible with aging. This usually traces back to fermented silage or large bales of hay that got wet and the center of the hay core it rotting/fermenting. Causes butyric fermentation. Not dangerous but quality issue.
Good luck- you are doing well!