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Black Mold.......How do I get rid of it? I have been adding some vinegar to my salt solution cleaning, recoated with salt and let stand for a day and I have used 100% vinegar solution to scrub the mold away. But it just returns. John

John Donnellan
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    We need more details - are you making cheese, storing store-bought cheese... Welcome to Seasoned Advice. The [tour] and our [help] are a good place to learn more sbout the site. – Stephie Apr 09 '16 at 18:07
  • I have made my own American "Swiss" cheese. It is now in the beginning stage of aging. – John Donnellan Apr 09 '16 at 19:55

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Black mold, regardless of what type it is, is not good news. It is almost always introduced by contact with contaminated skin. Your best bet is to trim the outside one inch from the entire cheese, ensuring that your hands are covered with latex or nitrile gloves that have been disinfected with bleach and then allowed to air-dry. Between each cut, clean and sterilize your knife to ensure that there is no chance of contamination by spores picked up during the previous cut. Re-salt to create a new rind, or apply some wax as a sterile seal. Ensure that the location in which you age your cheese is completely sterile before setting any cheese on it again, and do not re-use any cloths or paper wraps you may have employed before, even if they were used on a different cheese. If the black mold regrows after you have taken all of these measures and precautions, it means that there are spores in the cheese itself. If that is the case, I would recommend that you discard the cheese and start again.

Shalryn
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    If it's coming back after cleaning the surface, you've either got a dirty container, or the cheese has mycelia growing inside it. That latter is hopeless. – Wayfaring Stranger Jan 16 '19 at 23:25