How to store, wrap and present your cheese

Here at cheesegeek, protecting our cheese at all costs is not just a priority, it’s more like our purpose. Whether it’s a blue, a hard, a soft or a goat’s, they are all equally as important. Much like parents and their children, we love them all the same, even if some are a little bit more difficult. Each have their own quirks and requirements, so without further ado, let's get a little geeky... 

Ideally, you should buy the amount of cheese that you and your accompaniments are going to consume within a few days. Personally, it’s rare we have an issue with leftover cheese, however, we do know a lot about wrapping and storing it. 

Storing Soft, Semi-Soft, Semi-Hard Cheese. 

The most ideal storage is waxed paper, or parchment paper. Cheeses like Gorgonzola, Vacherin or Brie's need exposure to air, so that the cheese doesn't become too watery. Wrapping these kinds of cheeses in a plastic tight wrap only results in trapped moisture, which causes the rind and flavour to change negatively. The cheese becomes essentially smothered. Ideally, these cheeses should be stored at a cool temperature between 5-8 degrees celsius.

Storing Hard Cheese.

Trapping moisture is less of a worry with hard cheeses. Your Cheddars, Parmesans, Leicesters and Gruyeres have a lot less moisture than soft cheeses, so therefore are more likely to actually dry out in the fridge. Using waxed paper or parchment tightly wrapped is our recommendation however they can be wrapped in clingfilm for a few days. Unlike soft cheeses, hard cheese keeps just fine at room temperature, between 8-15 degrees celsius. 

Dealing with mould on Cheese.

In general, you can just scrape off the mould on cheese. If a hard cheese has a white mould on it and the cheese itself is rock hard, it generally cannot be salvaged (a true tragedy). If soft cheeses have a bulging or cracked rind, it may be too poorly to save (a genuine catastrophe).

Wrapping cheese up all pretty, just like it deserves. 

Now to the more exciting stuff. We believe cheese deserves to be shown off, wrapped up further in a pretty little dress, or dapper-looking suit. Ok.. maybe that's pushing it, but if you’re ever gifting cheese, the attention to detail is key. Every cheese deserves some beautiful wrapping paper, topped off with a bow. If you’re really feeling adventurous ,why not practice some origami and wrap the cheese up, topped with an origami cow or goat. If you’re generously gifting an entire box or board, make sure to add ribbons and bows, adding to the excitement and beauty the moment the receiver discovers their gift. We cannot think of anything better than the gift of cheese, so you may as well, wrap, store and present it as it deserves. Gift wrapping affects the attractiveness of a gift as well as being proven to appear more appealing, creating more joy and anticipation over un-wrapped gifts. Basically, cheese deserves to be presented as fantastic as it tastes… just make sure its being opened there and then and not placed under the Christmas tree for weeks ..

The big takeaway of the day... grab yourself some waxed paper if you're feeling cheesy. If you're as big a fan of the environment as we are, we also do our own cheesegeek beeswax wrap, which you can use again and again to keep your cheese as fresh as a daisy.