Cheese Coating – PVA with Natamycin

This is the high-tech way to coat your semi-hard and hard cheeses.  Polyvinyl Acetate (PVA) is a plastic cheese coating  that doesn’t need melting.  Just brush it on and let it dry.

Also included is the addition of Natamycin.  This is a wonderful anti-fungal that keeps those nasty fungus  away and keeps your cheese happy while it ages.

250 grams can coat 10-15 cheese wheels.  Depending on the size of the cheese and the amount of PVA you apply.

Here’s some differences with Beeswax:

• Bees wax can be brittle and leads to cracking.  PVA is more flexible and doesn’t tend to crack.
• Bees wax needs to be melted before applying.  PVA just requires brushing on.
• Bees wax dries quickly while PVA requires a couple of hours to dry for each coat.
• PVA is breathable.  Bees wax is not. PVA alone may not be a good option for cheese aging longer than 6 months.
• Bees wax doesn’t have anti-fungal additive while our PVA does.

How to apply

1. Make sure the cheese is dried as per the directions to the specific cheese of choice.
2. Stir up the coating mix
3. Use smaller amounts of coating on the brush.  Don’t glob it on.
4. Lay the cheese on a flat surface.
5. Apply a thin layer on the exposed part of the cheese making sure there are no streaks
6. Leave the cheese in a dry and well-ventilated place to dry coatings, which can last a few hours.  The cooler the better.
7. When the layer is completely dry, flip it over and cover the remaining exposed cheese.
8. Repeat two or three more times.

Some cheese mongers like to layer 2 coats of PVA.  Then a third coat of Beeswax is layered above the PVA.  But this is just an option.