24 published records across 4 families
The whole ledger
The whole ledger, shortest-eating first. A fresh cheese is on the board in days, a hard wheel takes two years, and that order is the spine of this site.
Index by rind treatment
From nothing at all to a cloth bandage: the rind decides what grows on the surface and how fast the wheel loses water.
No rind Eaten within days; the surface is the cheese.
- Paneer: A 90 C Acid Set With a Six-Kilogram Press — 1 days
- Ricotta From Yesterday's Whey: Why Acid Timing Beats Temperature — 1 days
- Thirty-Minute Mozzarella With Citric Acid: The Two Numbers That Decide It — 1 days
- Buffalo Mozzarella: Acid-Developed Stretch at pH 4.9 — 2 days
- Fresh Cheddar Curd: Cheddaring for the Squeak, Not for the Cloth — 2 days
- Fromage Blanc Without Rennet: A Twelve-Hour Lactic Set — 2 days
- Queso Fresco: A Rennet Fresh Cheese That Still Squeaks — 2 days
- Labneh: Eighteen Hours of Drain and the Salt Rate That Makes It Last — 3 days
- Crescenza: A Rindless Soft Cheese With No Rind to Fail — 7 days
Dry salt rub Fine salt rubbed into the surface at 8-12 g per kg, repeated until the salt stops disappearing.
Brine wash 2-3% brine wiped over the surface every 2-3 days. Selects for Brevibacterium linens and the orange, oniony rind.
- Halloumi: The 90 C Poach Is What Makes It Squeak — 5 days
- Reblochon: A Mixed Culture, a Warm Cave, and a Thin Orange Skin — 28 days
- Taleggio: Salting in 18% Brine and Washing the Rind Every Second Day — 35 days
- Raclette: A Hot Scald, a Brine Wash, and a Three-Month Window — 90 days
- Gruyère: A Washed Rind in a Cave That Is Deliberately Too Damp — 300 days
Beer or cider wash Same mechanics as a brine wash with sugar for the surface flora; wipe every third day.
Ash coating Vegetable charcoal dusted on at 3-5 g per kg before the rind closes. Raises surface pH and slows the bloom.
Bloomy rind (sprayed) Penicillium candidum sprayed or dusted on, then 90% RH at 11-13 C until the white felt is complete.
- Crottin de Chavignol: An Eighteen-Hour Lactic Set in Small Moulds — 14 days
- Camembert: A Ladled Curd, a Dry Surface, and Three Weeks of Patience — 21 days
- Chaource: Cream Added, Rennet Cut Back, and a Cylinder That Holds — 28 days
- Brie-Style: Large Format, Slow Drain, and Why Thin Is Harder — 42 days
Olive oil rub Oil plus a little salt every other week; the rind dries to a hard amber skin.
Cloth bandage Butter muslin or linen larded with lard, wrapped tight. Keeps moisture in and lets the surface breathe.
Wax Applied at 4-8 weeks once the rind is dry. Stops weight loss and stops rind development, so wax late.
- Edam: The Low Scald and the Paraffin Coat — 70 days
- Gouda: Replacing a Third of the Whey With Water — 120 days
Natural / wild Nothing applied. The cave's own flora decides; brush off the wrong moulds and leave the right ones.
Index by family
-
Fresh — 0–7 days
Eaten young enough that the rind never forms. The whole game is cut size and drain, not aging. · 9 records
-
Soft ripened — 1–4 weeks
Surface-ripened from the outside in. The rind is the engine; the paste is what it leaves behind. · 9 records
-
Semi-hard — 2–6 months
Pressed enough to close, salted enough to keep, aged long enough to lose the raw-milk edge. · 4 records
-
Hard — 6–24 months
Low moisture, high press, long cave. Small mistakes compound for two years, so the numbers matter most here. · 2 records