[Geraint]

Hi Everyone
I'm after some advice please.

We made some Chorizo two weeks ago, we used Bessastart culture and incubated them for 36 hours in a warm room with good humidity. They are now on the garage hanging up. Checking them yesterday they have a fine grey mould all over which made me think they were going well, they don't smell bad and aren't too soft, but I think looks different to the first time I made them. I have attached a picture (hopefully its attached) which might help.
Thanks in advance for any help.

[Eve]

That looks like fuzzy mould, which is not good. Wet a cloth with vinegar and wipe them all down.
Dry mould = fine
Fuzzy mould = bad

 

[Geraint]

Hi Eve
Oh no! Thank you for the advice I'll wipe them down later.
Will this mean I'll have to chuck them? Perhaps the airflow is not good?
Thanks again
Geraint

[Olly398]

My experience disagrees with yours Eve. 
I've had fuzzy mould, dry mould and every colour under the sun. They'll go through loads more phases over the next few weeks. You could wipe them all with vinegar but not sure I'd bother, mine have always been fine....
Olly

[Eve]

Since they don't smell bad, hang on to them.
 
Ours hang up in the loft where it's above freezing but not by much at this time of year. We do have a fan on a timer in warmer weather, which works a few half hours a day. We don't bother with the initial warmer period, and never had fuzzy mould, only the dry 'good' stuff.
 
Geraint, some people advocate against eating anything with mould that isn't dry and white (e.g. the charcuterie gurus Ruhlman & Polceyn, but then again they are American and American authors always cover their backs re potential food poisoning claims - they also use curing salts which I never use and apparently I will die soon because of that  ).
Others say any colour is fine as long as it's dry mould - I'm inclined to agree with the latter given my experiences with charcuterie where I grew up on the continent, which included white, grey and slightly green-ish mould. Never saw fuzzy mould on any charcuterie...  but Olly is still alive and well, so who knows, Olly, you may be right... or have exceptionally strong health  But you do know what you're talking about re fuzzy mould by the sounds of it, my experience is limited to dry mould and I'm just going by the warnings in the books and on websites as we never had anything go fuzzy on us.
 
Geraint, wiping the chorizo's down with vinegar won't harm them so I'd do that just to be on the safe side  Alternatively, you could let the fuzz mature and be the world's first spicy mushroom grower 
 
 
I was once told that if you're not sure whether or not you can eat a food item, try giving some to a dog (a pampered dog, that is, not a working will-eat-anything-even-manure dog). If it's dodgy, the dog wouldn't eat it. Don't know if that's true or not, or if I would even want to try that... 
 

[Geraint]

Thanks again to you both
It does seem to be a minefield when it comes to charcuterie! I have heard that the Americans do things differently to the Europeans


I've only made chorizo once before when I lived up in Scotland, they developed a green mould on them which I took off with a cloth in vinegar, they worked out ok in the end. I had help from a local German butcher that made and sold his own, which made things easier.


I spoke to Rob at Weschenfelder, he suggested that I could take off the mould but not to worry too much; the mould to watch out for he said is a black mould, and maybe increase the air flow in the garage, maybe get a fan like yours Eve?


Its strange as I have salamis hanging in a friends garage which are covered in white and green mould and I wasn't worried about them, maybe because the white mould developed first and I have been wiping off the green mould?


I think I will wait and see what happens, maybe wipe it off when it gets too tempting. I like the idea of becoming a world first at anything


Fingers crossed and thanks again for the guidance..
Geraint

[Geraint]

Hi again
I have put all the chorizo in with the salamis in a friends garage, there seemed to be more air flow in their so hopefully they will dry out a bit better.
They can keep the salamis company, which are quite mouldy now and firm so might need a taste test soon..
Hope yours are going well too Eve and Olly
Best wishes Geraint

[Eve]

  Looking good!
 
Our first coppa (both plain and spicy) and lonzino were ready last week. The plain coppa I'm going to smoke, as compared to our other charcuterie it's not that exciting and I bet it'll be better smoked - not exactly authentic but who cares 
The spicy (paprika) coppa is delicious and the lonzino too (it taste and smells of the cloves in the cure - weird but in a nice way). Already had slab of bacon and nearly finished it... Pretty soon both hubby and I will look like little pigs ourselves   
 
One thing you might find of salami's etc, Geraint: they're addictive! 
 
Enjoy! 
 

[Geraint]

Ha! Yeah can't wait to try them. 
I was wondering if you could recommend any good charcuterie books? I've seen Dick Strawbridges book on Curing and Smoking but not looked through it.
I find Jane Grigsons Charcuterie good but there's no mention of the starter culture quantities.
Any suggestions would be great.
Good luck with the smoking!
Thanks

[Eve]

Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman and somebody Polcyn is pretty much the bible when it comes to charcuterie. They have a second book out now, and both books are available on Amazon.
 
Just showed that photograph of your salami's to hubby - he's very impressed! 
Our salami's dry out really quickly as we use sausage casings, so the salami's are of course only the thickness of a sausage, which has the great advantage of not having to wait so long before tasting 
 
Did you weigh them at the beginning? After a few batches you'll be able to tell if your charcuterie is ready just by feeling it (which means you'll be caught in your friends' garage caressing bits of meat  ), though we still weigh ours anyway - lots of horribly coloured post-it notes stuck to the salami strings with recipe name, date and weight. Let us know when you start tasting yours, looking forward to hearing about the results 
 
Kind regards,
 

Eve
 
 
 

[Geraint]

Hi Eve
No I didn't weigh them    we didn't think of that (next time we will), but they are starting to feel harder now at the tops and a slight give at the base and middle, we started them on the 28th of October and they are in their 7th week.
We did label and weigh the chorizo however. 


I think as its nearly Christmas we might have to try one soon! I suppose it won't hurt?


Thanks for the book idea and tip on using sausage casings, the ones we have made are in middles.
Best regards
Geraint