These cheeses were covered overnight to prevent them from drying out. They were made the previous morning and left to rest and exude whey at a warm temperature.
Dan is coating them in salt which will be absorbed by the cheese over the next few days. If they were too dry, the salt would not stick to them and this step is critical for flavor development and shelf life. Too much and the cheese is salty, too little and it will decompose instead of aging for the 4 to 8 months that it takes to "ripen" our Tomme Collins cheese.
The day after, the salt is nearly all gone!
In a month, they will look like this:
