How do you keep your cheese in the fridge?

naf · November 30, 2015, 2:12am

I always have this question. Big chefs said cheeses are alive, they need to breathe. Cheese makers said cheeses can be kept for at least 2 months wrapped with either wax paper or a tochon/dish towel. Other cheese sellers sell their cheese in a sealed wrap (for hard cheese).

I tried the following ways:

Cheese in fridge in paper or tochon, they tend to make other food smells cheesy or absorb the smells of other food. Other food get mouldy easily. It will be ideal if you have a fridge just for cheese.
Cheese in sous vide vacuum sealed bags. Well hard cheese like Parmesan works, sous vide cheese for a long time is too dry, the taste changed.
It’s mostly how I kept my cheese, in an airtight glass box with a plastic lid. Pro: the fridge doesn’t smell cheese. Con: cheese sweats a bit.

How do you store your cheese?

linguafood · November 30, 2015, 2:23am

Preferably in the special wrapping paper it is sold in by reputable cheese mongers - paper that is waxed on the inside.

Then it goes in the cheese drawer of the fridge or, if particularly odiferous, in a plastic container.

catholiver · November 30, 2015, 3:10am

I’ve found that the good cheese folks will give me plenty of extra “cheese papers” or you can buy some. I’ve wrapped in that and then in parchment paper. That’s for the “good stuff.”

wonderwoman · December 6, 2015, 11:04pm

old glass jars with screw tops. no smell, cheese doesn’t dry out. i’ve never noticed any sweating.

naf · December 6, 2015, 11:10pm

Asked the cheese specialist yesterday, he said hard cheese (Comté in this case) if wrapped with wax paper could be keep in the fridge for at least 5-6 months. Fridge temperature should be at least 8ºC (46ºF), shouldn’t be with the same drawer with vegetables, as there will be too much condensation and couldn’t be evaporated. I asked him the possibility to keep in a cool garage around 12ºC (54ºF), he said the temperature is simply too high and the cheese will sweat.

greygarious · December 10, 2015, 9:03pm

I have very good luck just wrapping the cheese in a paper towel, then a plastic zipper bag.
It gets moldy eventually but not as fast as unopened plastic film-wrapped cheese.

Presunto · December 10, 2015, 9:59pm

Same as Greygarious. I still have to check it often just in case.

Here there’s always a stack of cheese papers or cheese bags for you to take home with your purchase. I do use the paper.

linguafood · December 10, 2015, 10:06pm

It’s been damn near impossible to find wax paper in Germany…

gaffk · December 10, 2015, 10:10pm

I keep my parm in a ziploc bag in the deli meat/cheese drawer, as a wedge of parm can last a few months.

All other cheeses remain in the paper from the cheesemonger in the deli/cheese drawer.

My mom lives with me, so I am unaware of this phenomenon of which you speak. Cheese can last months? Not in my house. Today’s trip to the cheese shop netted approx 1/4 lb each of Buttermilk Blue, Malvarosa sheep, smoked Chevrelait and a Campo Montalban. They don’t stand a chance of lasting through next weekend.

Presunto · December 10, 2015, 10:17pm

Just as smoked maatjes and Schillerlocke don’t exist here so I have to go to (northern) Germany! Smoked maatjes are available almost everywhere there, but Schillerlocke can only be found in the north.

NOVA_Nate · December 10, 2015, 10:35pm

Cheese gets eaten in my house well before I have to worry about preserving it!

naf · January 6, 2016, 11:46pm

Not yet 6 months, but 1 month in the bottom drawer of the fridge, our original 1 kg comté is still in good shape. Only 1/3 left, I don’t think it can last to the end of the test.

catholiver · January 7, 2016, 12:09am

Even the soft/runny cheeses have lasted a month if I wrap first in cheese paper and then in parchment and store in the very back of the bottom drawer where it’s coldest.