How to store cheese at home

You may not have a cheese cave, but surely you could have a cheese drawer. You can get more mileage out of your cheese by treating it with some TLC.

Soft ripened (Cendrillon, Camembert)

Give the cheese room to breathe. Wrap it in parchment or wax paper rather than stifling it with plastic wrap directly on the rind.

Blue cheese (Roquefort, Benedictine)

Wrap tightly in foil or plastic wrap. Put the wrapped blue in a resealable bag to keep the smell and mould from contaminating other cheeses.

Washed rinds (Epoisse, Sauvagine)

As with the bloomies, you don't want to suffocate the rind. Wrap in wax paper or parchment, or store in a roomy plastic container (or the original box). If the rind becomes too sandy, you can wipe it with a clean damp cloth before serving.

Semi-soft, firm and hard cheese (Morbier, Gouda, Pecorino)

Wrap tightly in plastic wrap. You can also just cover the paste with saran and leave the rind uncovered.

Final word

Make sure you change the wrapping on your cheese frequently (ideally, each time it's opened) to avoid contamination.

Once a whole cheese is cut, it will not age/ripen any further. To maintain quality, buy small pieces you can consume within a few days.