In more and more communities across the United States, consumers have access to knowledgeable cheese merchants. Some of these passionate cheesemongers operate tiny neighborhood shops and stock only a small, curated collection. Others oversee a broad inventory in a supermarket setting, where shoppers expect to find both an inexpensive Cheddar for macaroni and cheese and a pricey raw-milk farmstead Cheddar for a dinner party.
You will learn more about cheese, find a better selection, and take home better quality if you shop at a specialty-cheese store or a market with a staffed cheese counter. Supermarkets that sell only precut cheese for the grab-and-go shopper serve a purpose, of course, but they rarely stock the kind of variety and quality that make specialty cheese an adventure. If possible, identify a merchant in your community who cuts cheese to order, or who will at least offer a taste of a precut piece, so you can sample before you buy.
Ask questions at the cheese counter. How does this Wisconsin sheep’s milk cheese compare to the Manchego you usually buy? Which of these blues is the boldest? Ask the merchant what cheeses he or she is excited about that day. A good cheese counter has a lot of turnover, with new cheeses coming in all the time, and the staff knows which wheels are tasting great and in peak condition.
Try to patronize a store that hires people with genuine enthusiasm for cheese and then trains them well. These savvy retailers offer you samples before you ask. They can tell you something about how the cheese was made or about the people who made it. And they can recommend other cheeses that will complement your selection on a cheese board. Make it a habit to buy at least one unfamiliar cheese each time you shop so your frame of reference continues to grow.
Cheese will survive longer in your refrigerator if properly stored. When you return from the market, take a few moments to create a good home for your cheeses with the conditions they prefer. For most cheeses, that means changing the wrap. Cheeses hate plastic wrap because they can’t breathe. Most cheeses are still releasing moisture, and if you trap that moisture with plastic, the cheese surface degrades. What’s worse, many plastic films impart an unpleasant taste to the cheese’s cut surface.
Some stores now use a breathable coated “cheese paper” to wrap cut pieces. If your purchases are so wrapped, leave them that way, but put them inside a lidded food-storage container. The container allows the cheeses to breathe while protecting them from the drying environment of the refrigerator.
If you purchase cheese wrapped in plastic film, remove the wrap when you get the cheese home. Rewrap in cheese paper (some cheese stores sell it), coated butcher paper, or wax paper, then place the cheese in a lidded food-storage container. You can put multiple cheeses in a single container, but store blue cheeses and stinky washed-rind cheeses separately. The blue mold and the washed-rind aromas can quickly infect other cheeses.
Hard cheeses such as Parmigiano Reggiano and aged Goudas have little moisture left to lose. They can be wrapped loosely in wax paper, then overwrapped tightly with aluminum foil. For these cheeses, you can dispense with the lidded container.
Change the wrap each time you take cheese out of the refrigerator. If mold tries to gain a foothold, simply cut or scrape it away. You don’t need to discard the cheese.
No cut cheese improves in your refrigerator; it only declines. Try to buy only as much as you expect to use in the next few days. (Hard grating cheeses are an exception. They can survive unscathed in the refrigerator for weeks.) Cheeses also suffer from changes in temperature, so try to minimize the number of trips in and out of the refrigerator. If you expect to eat only part of a wedge, cut off that part and bring it to room temperature, but put the rest back in the fridge.
Cheese tastes best at room temperature and, with few exceptions, should be served that way. As the chill departs, the aroma blooms and the texture softens. Firm bloomy-rind and washed-rind wheels become supple inside, and their flavors emerge. Even hard cheeses become less waxy and brittle when allowed to warm slightly.
For a 1-pound piece, an hour at room temperature suffices. Bigger wedges may need a little longer. Take cold cheeses out of their wrap, put them on a tray or serving plate, and cover with a cake dome or inverted bowl so they don’t dry out.
For safety, be cautious with super-moist products like cottage cheese, ricotta, and mozzarella. You can remove them from refrigeration for a half-hour or so before serving to take the chill off, but they should not remain at room temperature for long.
When assembling a selection of cheeses for guests, aim for diversity: a variety of milk types, shapes, rinds, textures, ages, and tastes. Juxtapose young, semisoft cheeses with hard, mature ones; delicate wheels with pungent ones; bloomy-rind disks with washed-rind types. Think about color and shape, too. An ash-coated goat log, a blue-veined wedge, and a washed-rind disk look more inviting together than three wedges with similar butter-colored interiors.
On the other hand, don’t feel that you need a half-dozen selections to make an appetizing cheese course. A single cheese in perfect condition can make an impression, especially when paired with just the right beer.
When guests are serving themselves from a buffet or a passed tray, it’s nice to provide a separate knife for each cheese. Observant guests will take the hint that the same knife shouldn’t travel from the blue cheese to the goat cheese to the Brie. Leave rinds in place, when possible, as they are part of each cheese’s beauty. At a stand-up gathering, where guests don’t have implements, consider displaying a small piece with rind intact but cubing or slicing the rest into portions suitable as finger food.
