Selecting and Keeping Artisan Cheese
Choose cheeses that feel heavy for their size and have a rind that smells like the environment of the dairy rather than ammonia. Store them by wrapping each piece in wax or parchment paper, then placing them in a loosely sealed plastic container inside the warmer zones of your refrigerator to prevent them from drying out or freezing.
Treat cheese like a living thing, not a grocery store staple.
Artisan cheese continues to ripen even after it reaches your home. Avoid pre-wrapped plastic blocks, which suffocate the cheese and introduce off-flavors.
- Wax paper
- Parchment paper
- Plastic storage containers
- Sharp paring knife
What goes in.
- variesArtisan cheese wedges
Respect the rind
Never use plastic wrap directly against the paste of the cheese. Always use a porous paper layer to allow moisture to escape while maintaining a protective barrier.
The method.
Examine the rind
If the rind is fuzzy or gray, check if it looks intentional to the style. Avoid any cheese showing bright patches of colored mold that don't match the rest of the wheel.
Test the feel
Apply gentle pressure to the paste. A semi-soft cheese should give slightly; a hard cheese should be unyielding. If it feels slick or oily, the cheese has likely suffered from heat shock.
Wrap carefully
Wrap each individual piece in wax or parchment paper. Tape it closed snugly. If you have multiple types, keep them in separate containers so their aromas do not bleed into one another.
Choose the location
Place the container in your refrigerator's vegetable crisper or the door, where the temperature is more stable and slightly warmer than the back wall.
When it doesn't go to plan.
If a hard cheese develops a tiny spot of surface mold, just scrape it off with a clean knife and eat the rest.
Always take your cheese out of the refrigerator one hour before serving so the fats can soften and the aromatics can open up.
Hard cheeses like aged Gouda or Parmigiano can last weeks if re-wrapped in fresh parchment after each use.
The ones that keep coming up.
Why does my cheese taste like the refrigerator?
This happens when the cheese is wrapped in plastic, trapping the odors of other foods. Switching to parchment paper eliminates this.
Can I freeze artisan cheese?
Avoid it. Freezing ruins the texture and crystalline structures that make artisan cheese unique.
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