Making cheese as a hobby or for a small business involves precise control of many factors, including temperature, humidity, and moisture content.
Humidity plays a vital role in cheesemaking. Controlled humidity at optimum levels improves mold growth, prevent drying and cracking, and allows for a slow aging process to develop the perfect texture, aroma, and flavor. Too high or too low humidity will significantly affect the process.
Keeping the humidity at the desired level ensures that the cheese ages properly and develops the desired texture, flavor, and aroma.
Table of Contents
Here are the benefits of using a humidifier for cheese making
- Provides a professional method to ensure consistent humidity levels
- Improves mold growth for flavor
- Prevents low humidity, which dries out the cheese, causing cracks and changes in texture
- Controls high moisture, which encourages the growth of unwanted bacteria
- Prevents change in flavor caused by varying humidity levels
Discover more about humidifiers work and their uses.
Let’s look more closely at each of these benefits:
A humidifier ensures consistent humidity levels
A humidifier is a device that emits a fine stream of moist air into a room, increasing the humidity level.
Humidity can be measured using a small device called a hygrometer. A Hygrometer gives a percentage reading indicating whether your space has low, normal, or high humidity.
Average homes have humidity levels of between 40% to 60%. If your percentage reading drops below 30%, the humidity is low and the air will be dry.
For cheesemaking, the aging process humidity levels generally need to be as high as 75% and over.
Humidifiers improve mold growth for flavor
While it may sound odd, mold growth is vital in developing different cheeses’ unique flavors, textures, and appearances.
Mold growth is controlled by carefully maintaining the correct humidity levels during aging.
Too much humidity can cause a proliferation of unwanted mold that can damage the cheese.
Too low humidity will prevent mold from growing entirely.
Cheesemakers use three different types of molds – blue, surface and internal. They all have complicated scientific names, but let’s take a look anyway!
Blue molds: Used to produce cheeses like Danish Blue. The mold grows on the surface, creating a green-blue hue. The scientific name is Penicillium glaucum.
Surface molds: Penicillium camemberti creates the white, powdery texture of soft cheeses like Camembert and Brie. These molds break down the cheese’s surface, making a more tough rind that encloses the creamy cheese.
Internal molds: A well-known taste loved by people (my husband included) who eat Roquefort, Gorgonzola, and Stilton. Only some people!
The Penicillium roqueforti mold is added to cheese curds and grows into greeny-blue veins in the cheese.
It also imparts a robust, tangy flavor and creates a crumbly texture. Humidity levels for this process must be as high as 85% to 95%.
It prevents drying out which causes cracks and changes in texture
The aging process usually requires humidity levels of around 75% to 95%.
Low humidity is not ideal for cheese making.
The cheese dries out too fast
Cheese must age at a prolonged rate, allowing it to retain its creamy texture.
During this process, moisture evaporates from the cheese into the air.
High-humidity spaces absorb moisture very slowly, allowing the water to remain in the cheese.
Low-humidity environments absorb moisture fast, drying out the cheese long before it has matured in flavor and texture and causing the cheese to become stiff and brittle.
The cheese can crack
When cheese dries out too fast, both the cheese and the cheese casing can crack.
Allowing air to penetrate, changing the texture and flavor. It also enables unwanted bacteria to enter the cheese, which can lead to contamination.
Prevents high humidity and the growth of unwanted bacteria
Depending on the type of cheese you are making, too high humidity will also affect the aging process.
High humidity attracts unwanted mold and bacteria that can cause the surface of the cheese to become slimy. Your cheese can develop foul odors emitted by these microbes.
Hard cheese becomes too soft in high humidity, acquiring a soft and mushy texture and losing its rigid shape.
For a small artisanal business, a standalone humidifier with a humidistat (aka hygrostat) is a form of hygrometer that acts like a thermostat to monitor the humidity and turn the humidifier on and off once the desired humidity is reached and can avoid inadvertent over-humidification.
Humidification can be controlled and monitored from a central point for larger areas or commercial production. Consulting with a professional to ensure the best result would be advisable in this case.
Prevents change in flavor
Varying humidity levels will prevent your cheese from developing the perfect flavors that cheese lovers recognize. You cannot offer a Brie that does not taste like a Brie!
Installing a humidifier will ensure you can maintain the correct humidity levels for long periods during ripening.
Here are some examples of times and humidity for developing the correct flavors in well-known cheeses.
Cheddar – Humidity < 80%, ripening time 2-24 months
Emmental – Humidity 85% – 90%, ripening time several months
Brie and Camembert – Humidity 90% – 94%, ripening time 9-30 days
Blue Cheese – Humidity 85% – 95%, ripening time weeks to months
Humidifiers provide optimal conditions for slow aging of cheese
Cheese-making is a craft that requires patience and dedication. Some cheeses can take many months to ripen. During this time, you must tend to your cheese to ensure the environment remains perfect for the cheese to age to the correct texture, taste, and aroma.
Knowing the benefits of using a humidifier for cheesemaking, one can see that a humidifier is a must-have device for cheesemakers.
A humidifier will maintain constant moisture levels as different cheeses require, ensuring the best conditions for your cheese cave, cellar, closet, cheese fridge, or cheesemaking room.
Without using a humidifier, you can create humidity by:
- Using a manual mist sprayer to pump moisture into the air
- Lining the base of your cheese container with a damp towel
- Placing a container of water into the storage compartment
- Coating the cheese with professional cheese wax
- Vacuum sealing the cheese in plastic
However, none of these methods will ensure a constant humidity reading. A smart humidifier will turn on and off automatically to maintain your desired humidity level 24/7 with no intervention. Our article Humidity, Friend or Foe covers some more information about humidity.
