By Danika Reed
Working in the world of cheese I come across people with all sorts of questions:
- “What type of cheese should I have with the wine I am serving tonight?”
- “Is Roquefort a blue cheese?”
- “What is the difference between 2 year and 5 year gouda?” (For the record, the answer is three years, silly!)
One question that I am most often asked is how to store various types of cheese. I often cringe when people tell me that they commonly use Ziplock bags. Knowing how to properly wrap and store cheese is very important.
Types of Cheeses:
- Fresh
- Soft Ripened
- Semi-Soft
- Hard
- Blue
Storing Cheese: Most
refrigerators have a drawer for vegetables but few have a dedicated cheese
drawer. For those who aren’t lucky
enough to have a dedicated cheese drawer, the vegetable drawer will also work
well. This drawer contains a small
amount of humidity which is perfect for keeping your cheeses fresh.
Wrapping Cheese:
- Fresh Cheese: This category is made up of cheese that should be eaten within a short period of time. There is a high moisture content which provides a great environment for mold and bacteria to grow. Fresh cheeses consist of cream cheese (real cream cheese, not the kind that comes wrapped in foil), fresh mozzarella, mascarpone, ricotta and burrata. These cheeses should be left in their original packaging and consumed quickly. They will start to lose flavor and grow unfriendly attributes the longer they sit in your refrigerator.
- Soft Ripened Cheese: These are commonly referred to as “brie style” or mold ripened. The most important thing to remember about this category is that the mold on the outside is a living breathing organism and contains the flavor. Most usually notes of mushroom and earth. Always eat the rind, always! These cheeses should always be wrapped loosely in wax or freezer paper. This will allow the rind to flourish until it is ready to serve. If the cheese has an “open” side and is not a full wheel, that side should have a separate piece of wax paper only covering the exposed side.
- Semi-Soft and Hard Cheese: This group is a little less finicky and the goal is to keep the air out. This category contains cheddars, goudas, manchegos, jacks, fontinas, and many others. Get out the plastic wrap and wrap them as smoothly and tightly as possible.
- Blue Cheese: This is an interesting category because the goal is to encourage the growth of mold on the inside while inhibiting its growth on the outside. This is really for aesthetic purposes as you don’t want to serve a block of blue cheese that looks like it may walk off the plate! Blue cheeses are the only category that should be wrapped in aluminum foil. Foil is a mold inhibitor, so it should be able to keep the furry monsters from flourishing on the outside of your blue cheese block.
Don’t forget to always treat your cheese with kindness and
it will delight your taste buds for days to come! Cheers
to cheese!
Danika Reed is the Cheese Monger at Vivant Fine Cheese, located in historic downtown Paso Robles. The Central Coast's premier cheese tasting room features premium, local and imported handcrafted artisan cheeses paired with the finest Central Coast wine and beer. Danika is our monthly guest blogger for Cheese'n it Up!
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