a stone cutting surface is seriously bad news for any keenly edged tool.
period. no further discussion needed.
if one does not understand that precept, there’s no point in going on.
will a cheese knife cut a hard/firm cheese? no.
will a marketing department sell stone as a cheese platter? yup.
the application of common sense saves a lot of grief.
wood cutting boards / blocks have multiple centuries of “really good sanitation” properties. widely understood, not widely accepted by the germaphobes.
if the cheese is so long in contact with a typical wood cutting board as to affect the taste, the problem is not the wood, the problem is that such time should not be measured in weeks.
there are no benefits to a stone as a cutting surface. other benefits, yes. cutting, no.
There are lots of different cheeses–and very different knives. In fact, some of the hardest cheeses are grated (like parmesan). Soft cheeses (like Philadelphia cream cheese) are spooned and spread. Some cheeses are cut by a single wire in a hacksaw type arrangement, or planed with a special device. Knives intended only for cheese are not very sharp–sometimes they have a little fork at the end:
So, if one is using knives or other tools designed for cheeses, a stone foundation might assure an odor free easy to clean workplace that wouldn’t harm the tools. If one is using regular knives, only a wood cutting board would keep the knives sharp.
Not a cheese connoisseur, but I always assumed because it could be kept cooler too. Also, some cheese are ripe and funky, and I suppose stone would be less prone to absorbing the funk. And then my way-out-there assumption – cheese connoisseurs tend to be all yuppie-like with their wine and fig jam or quince paste, and the stone is just more chic. [ducks]
Or “silly cheese”, which has a double meaning. It resembles Silly String, and it’s silly to consider this substance actual cheese, even though real cheese is touted as an ingredient. .
