I made this Romano:

. . . eight months ago. Normally you wouldn’t even think of cracking a Romano open before a year, but a month or two into its aging, the rind developed cracks, which were soon colonized by blue cheese spores:

It turns out my “reference” hygrometer was off by about 8%, so rather than being kept at the correct 92% relative humidity, it was much lower, so I think that’s why it cracked. Plus, I’ve learned that the long-aged cheeses enjoy a monthly rubbing with olive oil (honestly, who wouldn’t?), and that helps to prevent cracking as well.

Anyway, no point to waiting for another four months, since it will never be a “proper” Romano.

So you can see that the blue wasn’t content with the cracks.

But, you ask, how did it taste?

Not bad. The blue parts tasted unsurprisingly pretty blue, but the parts where the little buggers didn’t get to didn’t taste of blue at all, rather more like a mild Romano.

I’m still learning about how blues develop during the affinage. It’s less the blue color (from the spores) and more due to the mycelium (which breaks down the proteins and fats) that the “blue” taste comes from, but based on this cheese, that may only apply to moister cheeses, like gorgonzola. In this case, maybe because the paste is much dryer, the mycelium didn’t grow through all the cheese, so it doesn’t taste blue.

It looks pretty crumbly:

. . . but was surprisingly grate-able:

Spaghetti Carbonara

Ingredients: (I made half, because it doesn’t keep well)

• 1 lb. spaghetti
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 4 oz. prosciutto or bacon, chopped small
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped small
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 C. grated Parmesan or Romano, plus more for garnish
• Black pepper
• Some leafy green thingy to make it pretty

Method:

Cook the spaghetti and drain, reserving 1/2 C. of the cooking liquid:

Heat the olive oil and fry the bacon over medium heat until crispy, 2 – 3 minutes. Turn down the heat, add the garlic and stir for another minute, or until it’s fragrant.

Stir the drained spaghetti into all that delicious fat for a couple of minutes until it’s well coated.

Stir together the beaten egg and the cheese, then bung it into the pan along with the reserved cooking water and a couple of twists of black pepper, and stir it again for a few minutes until well-coated.

Bowl it up, then add a bit more cheese, more black pepper, if you like (I do), and the prettifying greens:

Yum!

-R