Some fresh cheeses turn into natural rind or aged cheeses if they are left to drain and dry out in cellars.
Their wet surface attracts a variety of moulds and wild yeasts. The first mould is the fuzzy white penicillin (see soft white rind below). Then patches of blue, then grey, yellow and red follow. Each of these moulds and yeasts add to the ripening process and flavour.
Salt rubbed or sprinkled on to the surface helps dry out the cheese. The cheese starts to shrink, and wrinkles develop and deepen.
Natural rind cheeses are made in many different shapes, from pyramids to small rounds. They are often covered in black ash or herbs.
The rinds on the cheese are edible. They often have an earthy, musty, mushroom flavour.
Cheeses made with goat’s milk turn into natural rind cheese especially well.
Examples of natural rind cheeses are:
Banon
Crottin de Chavignol
St-Marcellin
Rocamadour.
Note that these examples are all French. Natural rind goat’s cheeses are not widely made outside of France.
A New Zealand example of natural rind goat cheese is The Reginald by Cranky Goat in the Marlborough Sounds. It is a pyramid shaped cheese with a layer of ash underneath a white rind. The ash is made from burnt coconut husks. It has a soft smooth centre and an earthy flavour of mushroom and hay.