Soft Ripening Cheese Question...

[Don Ro]

Been getting into soft ripening (somewhat stinky) cheese and wine/champaign lately.
Bought a 250 gram Chaource Lincet at Costco along with a big wedge of Camembert from France.
I like to let these types of cheeses mature to the point where they get gooey and stinky.
The Chaource has a sell-by date of 1/13/2014,,,
and the Camembert of 1/22/2014.
How much longer can I let them go beyond these dates to get a nice pungent flavor?
A week, two weeks? without spoiling them...is my question.
.
Years ago I wouldn't eat Camembert until two+ weeks after their sell-by date.
Sometimes the Camembert went bad and other times it was great.
.
Also:
-1 wedge of Cambozola Triple Cream (Germany)...1/28/2014
-1 wedge of Champignon Triple Cream Mushroom (Germany)...1/17/2014
Same question for those ^ ^ ^ .
.
.

[masraum]

I'm curious about the answer too.

The wife and I love a good soft cheese like a brie, but the stuff we get at the store around here isn't really ripe like it should be.

One of my all time favorite cheeses is Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog. I will often buy the 5# wheel, I can't wait until it is ripe to dig into it, but I do eat it very slowly and usually cut it into several hunks and wrap in cheese paper so that the chunks ripen very nicely. Man that stuff is good.

I also like a good Stilton, and will try just about anything. I bought a limberger (sp) once. I'm not sure if it was right or not, but it did smell really bad and didn't really taste any better than it smelled.

[Geary]

There's a tiny square of limburger (sp) hidden under my ex-wife's car seat .. it was the best use I could think of for it ..

[recycled sixtie]

My wife likes to buy products on sale because they are close to their due date. Soft cheeses are not one of them. She will buy yoghourts that have a couple of days left before their due date. However I would think that cheese is like yoghourt. Once you get the blue mold on it then it is toast. Taste would be an indicator. I would think there is a fine line between being bad and being good. Proceed with caution . I hate food poisoning......

[masraum]

Originally Posted by recycled sixtie

My wife likes to buy products on sale because they are close to their due date. Soft cheeses are not one of them. She will buy yoghourts that have a couple of days left before their due date. However I would think that cheese is like yoghourt. Once you get the blue mold on it then it is toast. Taste would be an indicator. I would think there is a fine line between being bad and being good. Proceed with caution . I hate food poisoning......

Lots of cheeses come with blue mold, that's actually what makes them good. Also, most cheeses can get mold on the outside but still be great on the inside. I don't eat just any old, moldy cheese. A bag of shredded cheddar or mozzarella from the store with mold would be a no go for me.

[recycled sixtie]

Originally Posted by masraum

Lots of cheeses come with blue mold, that's actually what makes them good. Also, most cheeses can get mold on the outside but still be great on the inside. I don't eat just any old, moldy cheese. A bag of shredded cheddar or mozzarella from the store with mold would be a no go for me.

I am away from the soft cheese culture but I have in the past had cheddar cheese in a block and there was mold on the outside. I would cut away the blue mold on the outside and the inside would be fine. My wife otth would return the cheese to the store. Yes you are right some cheeses come with blue mold.

[Don Ro]

Thanks for the replies, gents.
Think I'll just keep a close eye on them...unwrap and check and if OK will re-wrap and wait a few days. I want to learn how to bring the cheeses to their optimal flavor point w/o killing myself or others.
.
BTW, Limburger can be a retaliatory weapon, as said.
How do I know?

[MysticLlama]

No great rule of thumb really, each one likes to be a certain length, and even that varies batch to batch.

We used to get a batch of these around holiday time for several people in the office.
Murray's Cheese - La Tur
Real good, you kinda gauge when it's ready by poking it, have to get a few of them until you find your point where you think it's the best.

And agree on the above Humboldt Fog recommendation, that stuff is GOOD!

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by Don Ro

Been getting into soft ripening (somewhat stinky) cheese and wine/champaign lately.
Bought a 250 gram Chaource Lincet at Costco along with a big wedge of Camembert from France.
I like to let these types of cheeses mature to the point where they get gooey and stinky.
The Chaource has a sell-by date of 1/13/2014,,,
and the Camembert of 1/22/2014.
How much longer can I let them go beyond these dates to get a nice pungent flavor?
A week, two weeks? without spoiling them...is my question.
.
Years ago I wouldn't eat Camembert until two+ weeks after their sell-by date.
Sometimes the Camembert went bad and other times it was great.
.
Also:
-1 wedge of Cambozola Triple Cream (Germany)...1/28/2014
-1 wedge of Champignon Triple Cream Mushroom (Germany)...1/17/2014
Same question for those ^ ^ ^ .
.
.

You are on the right track. I go to the local "PC Market of Choice"* and buy the soft cheeses that are discounted due to being past a sell date. They are nice and gooey.

Cheese is like wine (but, apparently, not like olive oil): your #1 go to is France, followed by Italy (find some Tallegio). After that, the West coast of the US vies with Germany for the #3 spot. You can also pick up some good stuff from other countries...

You can also deviate from Champagne without fear of arrest. Work your way thru the white Burgundies, and try a German or Alsatian Riesling also. White Bordeaux, etc. for some of the really stinky cheeses.




* no joke, AND it is owned by a Republican(!)

[recycled sixtie]

You are making me hungry. I have to watch my cholesterol levels - the stuff that makes for heart attack are these soft cheeses. But overlooking that I think a fantastic snack is good red wine, camembert and brie cheeses and crackers.
Blue cheeses are not for me. Each one to their own....

No wonder Canadians are called cheeseheads!

[javadog]

It's been hard to find good European cheeses in this country. We've gotten the pasteurized stuff and usually the lesser quality producers. The good stuff stays at home.

You can get raw milk cheeses that are made in the US and some of those are pretty tasty. Still, there's a lot of crap cheese out there.

Soft cheeses might be tasty but I prefer some of the harder cheeses. And then there are the various blue cheeses, which are the king of the cheeses for me.

JR

[Don Ro]

Originally Posted by RWebb

You are on the right track. I go to the local "PC Market of Choice"* and buy the soft cheeses that are discounted due to being past a sell date. They are nice and gooey.

Cheese is like wine (but, apparently, not like olive oil): your #1 go to is France, followed by Italy (find some Tallegio). After that, the West coast of the US vies with Germany for the #3 spot. You can also pick up some good stuff from other countries...

You can also deviate from Champagne without fear of arrest. Work your way thru the white Burgundies, and try a German or Alsatian Riesling also. White Bordeaux, etc. for some of the really stinky cheeses.




* no joke, AND it is owned by a Republican(!)

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I'll be trying a Tallegio for the first time soon...really stinky, I hear.
.
Will be trying various whites.
I've heard about Eiswein (Ice Wine) with certain stinky cheeses. Heard of it?
They let the grapes freeze on the vine and process from there.
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Re: arteries, etc. I work out to keep my tubes clean. Wish me luck.
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"We've gotten the pasteurized stuff and usually the lesser quality producers. The good stuff stays at home."
~~~~~~~~~
Am reading about this. A shame.

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Thanks for the comments, all...and to RWebb for the jab.

[RWebb]

Yes, I have. There are copies in the US. You will want to check out a similar French wine, Sauternes. They are spendy and need to be aged to a honey or brown color.

People usually say you need some acid "bite" in the wine to "cut" the fat in the cheese.

re health, it's never been clear to me whether it is better to clog up your arteries with bacon or a good cheese, so I usually go for both

No reason you can't have beer with cheese, either... Just don't drink a red wine with cheese. In France, the Cheese police have shoot on sight orders for that.

Oh yeh - blue cheese... add port.

[javadog]

I'm not a huge fan of aging soft cheeses. I like the delicate flavor they have when opened and I don't like the Russian roulette you play with respect to the ammonia issue. Some guidelines you might find useful:

The Cheesemonger's Top Ten Rules for Ultimate Cheese Sanity | The Kitchn.

JR

[TimT]

It's been hard to find good European cheeses in this country. We've gotten the pasteurized stuff and usually the lesser quality producers. The good stuff stays at home.

Isn't that the big gripe?

That for the European cheese makers to be able to sell the cheese here, they have to pasteurize the base? (some sort of import ban on non pasteurized dairy) And that by doing that...the cheese never develops it full flavors and characteristics fully.

[Chocaholic]

Heard about a shortage in the market of....Velveeta. Guessing you guys are to blame.

[masraum]

hahahaha. I might have to start eating my velveeta before it's mature!