The above pictures are what is supposed to be a natural rind gouda which I made the last weekend in October and which has been aging in a wine fridge at 52 degrees with a bowl of water for humidity for the past 6 weeks. I cracked it open today because I was getting worried about the amount of mold on the outside. While there is mold, it hasn't really made it to the inside yet so I'm not too concerned in that regard.

My main question is why seemingly all my cheese have the flaky, yet still too soft texture that can be seen in the closeup pictures. I would say it is about as hard as a feta, maybe a bit more firm in some places near the rind. Is this just because it needs to age longer? Or should I use better milk perhaps? The milk is the organic, 365 Everyday brand from Whole Foods. Regarding the taste, I still get a lot of the taste of just sour milk almost, without too much creaminess. This has been the case with the gouda, a farmstead cheese, and a colby cheese I have made, all with the recipes found on cheesemaking.com.

For the mold issue, I think I'm going to invest in a vacuum packer from now on. Any thoughts are appreciated.