Let’s talk about good mold and bad mold. First, there is no bad mold. It may be bad for us to eat but may not be bad for an animal to consume. Bad mold can occur many ways but usually it is because you were impatient.

For me, I cut into a cheese that had been waxed and dried. I noticed that it developed black mold under the wax layer. This means that the environment that I was drying the cheese had attracted a spore that thrived on my cheese before I waxed it. OR I was impatient and didn’t let my cheese dry enough before I waxed it.

I thought the cheese was fine so I ate a slice. This mold didn’t agree with me and I was instantly running to the bathroom within an hour. 

The reason mold develops on cheese is because of the perfect breeding ground for bacteria. First mold loves humidity. I grew up on the east coast where it was high humidity every day of the summer, then I moved to the rocky mountains where my skin is tortured by the lack of moisture in the air. Good molds occur in the right temperature and thrive in the right humidity. Bad molds do the same thing, but can turn super bad when they get into cracks in the cheese or when they develop in between the rind and the wax. You can remove bad mold (and good mold) by rubbing and wiping away the mold with a towel soaked in a brine solution. If you see bad mold throughout the cheese (and your recipie didn’t call for adding a mold) it is usually caused by not washing your equipment correctly and it will thrive on the inside of the cheese. Mold on the outside of the cheese is caused by the environment.

Most cheeses age correctly in 50-55 degree temperatures and need a high humidity basement or cave to develop the correct flavor. By high humidity I mean, 65-90%.

If you’re like me and need to create fake humidity…

1. get a humidifier and clean it all the time.

2. leave a towel or bowl out in the area.

3. cover my cheese in a bowl to keep moisture in. It works for small batches.

4. make a cabinet for large batches and keep a bowl of water in there.

If your cheese is cracking that means the outside is drying faster than the inside. If you are noticing small cracks you can always fill them with butter to prevent them from getting larger. If the cracks get too large you unfortunately can’t fill them with butter as the cracks will grow mold. Think of it like putting a bandaid over an infected cut. It is still infected even if you put a bandaid over it.

In the mountain west, I would highly suggest purchasing a humidity monitor, I picked up an electronic one at home depot and it works great.

If you choose to wax your cheese, you should wax your cheese once the outside of the cheese is dry to the touch. I have seen recipes call for 3 weeks of drying. In my climate, it could range from 1 – 4 days.

Below is an image of one of the many “cheese” caves I have owned. This is a commercial wine refrigerator with humidifier inside. Be sure to clean your cheese and humidifier often as your fridge can develop mold too. (then it spreads to all of your cheeses and not select ones)