Testing the limits about cheese aging temperatures

It can be a good idea to test limits.

Farming do's and don'ts come from a lot of different sources. How-to books, websites, extension office bulletins, the guy down the road, the other guy at the feed store -- lots of folks know something, and a surprising amount of it is absolute: you can't raise steers without corn, milk cows must have grain, and so on. Other information leaves a little more room for nuance -- meat birds grow faster on 16%+ grower ration, but can manage with something less.

We like to test limits. So, this is just to tell you what happened when we tested the limits about cheese aging temperatures.

Fifty-five degrees fahrenheit is the statutory temperature for cheese caves. Our cave, being of necessity in a south-facing slope and only six feet back in the hill, warms to considerably more than 55 degrees in the summer. So in past summers we have always moved the cheeses inside, wrapped them loosely in plastic, and aged them -- slowly -- in a 40 degree refrigerator. They get a little dry, but it works fine -- the flavor and texture develop, and you get some nice cheeses.

Last year, though, when we moved the cheeses inside in June, we overlooked one, I don't know how. It was still there in September when we moved the cheeses back outside. It looked like something you might find at the bottom of an anaerobic compost pile, or under an old rotten log. Obviously, it had been neither turned nor wiped the whole summer long. But after we trimmed it, what was left -- about 2/3 of the whole mass -- was just delicious.

So this summer we didn't move the cheeses inside at all. They stayed out in the cave, which got up sometimes to almost 70 degrees on a hot afternoon. We wiped and flipped them, but not too often. Over time they started to look pretty antedeluvian. But when we open a cheese, the taste is wonderful.

One more thing that can do without refrigeration. Pass it on.