Storing and handling your cheese correctly will help ensure it maintains optimum flavour and quality. By following a few simple steps it is easy to keep your cheese tasting luscious and in perfect condition.
Cheese Storage
- The shelf life of each cheese varies. Generally, soft cheeses such as brie and camembert have a shorter life than firm cheeses such as Edam or Gouda while hard cheeses like cheddar and parmesan keep longest of all.
- As a rule, cheese should be kept refrigerated. The best place to store soft cheese is generally in a lidded plastic container in the fridge. This prevents the odours from other foods tainting the cheese.
- Blue cheese should be stored separately from other cheese varieties because its distinctive flavour and aroma may permeate other cheeses.
- Cheese is likely to sweat if stored in plastic wrap. Soft Ripened cheese should be re-wrapped in its original wrapper, or wrap tightly in waxed or baking paper after opening.
Cheese Handling
- As it is a living product soft cheese like brie, camembert or blue need to breathe and should not be wrapped in plastic. Keep these cheeses in their own wrappers, which are usually made of special paper with tiny perforations which allow air to penetrate. This provides the opportunity for the cheese to breathe and the ripening process to continue.
- Many cheeses will develop surface mould with age. If surface mould develops on a cut cheese face, simply cut off the mould so that the cheese is fine to eat. This does not apply to fresh unripened cheese such as fetta or ricotta. Discard these cheeses if mould appears.
- Cheese is perishable and can dry out quickly, so don’t cut cheese until just before it is to be consumed. If cheese has been left unwrapped and has dried out, consider grating it and using it for cooking.
- To help develop the full flavours of cheese, allow it to come to room temperature before serving. It is recommended that cheese is removed from the fridge 60 minutes before serving. This time may vary depending on the temperature and humidity of the day. Once opened, wrap any remaining cheese in the original packaging to maintain optimum quality.
- Always serve cheese when it is most ripe (ie. as close to its best before date as possible) to ensure a full flavour and optimum taste. If the cheese is unripe, it should be left in the refrigerator to mature.
- When serving soft cheeses as part of a cheese board, provide a sharp knife with holes in the blade. This allows the cheese to be cut cleanly without pressure and prevents the cheese from sticking to the knife.
- Always provide a separate knife for each variety of cheese on your cheese board. In particular, one for soft white cheeses (brie or camembert), one for blue cheese, and one or more for hard cheeses (particularly if there are flavoured varieties).
- Allow a cheese serving of between 30g to 50g per person.
- Consider offering three or four different cheese styles on a cheese board or select one cheese and make it the feature of the cheese board and serve it with several accompaniments.