10 cheese crimes everyone commits at some point

If your love of cheese doesn’t go beyond pre-sliced young matured cheese from the supermarket, you can stop reading now. But if you love a wedge of brie de Meaux that drips off your cheeseboard, cabrales with a mind of its own and crottin so strong-smelling it becomes a political statement, stick around a little longer. You must never commit these ten cheese crimes again—watch out!

Your fridge is too cold

The fridge is perfect for storing cheese, but if you’re going to eat it straight from the fridge, it’s much too cold. It’s not just brie that should be eaten at room temperature; take other cheeses out of the fridge an hour before you want to put the cheeseboard on the table. The cheese will taste better, and you’ll be able to taste those flavour compounds found in the fat in the cheese (denial is not an option) more clearly. Cheese also smells stronger at room temperature, and that’s surely part of the whole experience, isn’t it?

You put the cheese in the fridge naked

Cheese left over? Don’t put it in the fridge unwrapped, because you’ll be left with a hard, dried-out cheese rind. Perfect cheese has that delicate balance between firm and soft, and you’ll sabotage it. Shame on you!

You wrap the cheese in cling film

Okay, so the cheese shouldn’t go naked in the fridge, but what should you do? That wrapping from the cheese shop is dirty and sticky and has probably already ended up at the bottom of the bin. Cling film seems like the solution, but it definitely isn’t. That way, you seal the cheese off from oxygen, which isn’t good. You need cheese paper. If you buy your cheese from a cheesemonger, just ask for a few extra sheets.

You put fresh mozzarella in the fridge

Can you buy super-fresh mozzarella (delicious with peach and ham!), or some of that wonderful burrata? And are you going to eat it the same day? Then don’t put it in the fridge. In the fridge, a fresh cheese like that becomes firmer and less juicy. Is it for the next day? Then of course it can go in the fridge with its friends, as long as you take it out again in time (see point 1).

You freeze your cheese (have you gone mad?)

First of all: why would you? But all right, perhaps you bought a lot and you’re going on holiday the next day, or your dinner guests cancel and you want to freeze the cheese. That’s no problem with grated cheese or a block of toast cheese, but for goodness’ sake don’t put your French cheeses in the freezer. The texture changes, and the cheese becomes firmer, crumbly or downright rubbery.

You cut off the tip of the cheese

You have a beautiful wedge of cheese, and then someone cuts off the tip first. WHAT?!?! A cheese never ripens completely evenly; the centre of a wheel of cheese tastes different from the side or the rind (if you can eat it). Eating only the tip, or cutting a slice from the middle, is the same as picking only the white chocolate out of Duo Penotti: you simply don’t do that. Cut slices along the entire length of the wedge so you can enjoy all the flavours. Don’t cut the cheese into cubes or pieces in advance either, because smaller pieces of cheese dry out faster.

You hollow out the brie

On a large cheeseboard sits a piece of brie. Delicious, you think, and you’re already reaching for your little knife. But if you look closely, you’ll see that only the rind is left on the board. The soft centre has already been scooped out, probably by someone who only likes spreadable cheese. That is not good cheese etiquette. If you eat brie, eat the whole thing. It’s precisely the rind combined with the creamy interior that makes the ultimate brie experience. So if you’re the kind of cheese eater who doesn’t like brie rind, stay away from it altogether, or throw away the rind from your own piece of brie.

You buy grated cheese

Cheese dries out quickly, and that certainly applies to grated cheese. Cheese you grate fresh over your pasta yourself is much tastier than sawdust from a bag. True cheese lovers own a grater.

You use one knife for the entire cheeseboard

If you’re serving a cheeseboard, make sure every cheese has its own knife. That way, you prevent blue mould from sticking to your morbier and brie from ending up on the munster. Besides, every cheese needs its own type of cheese knife: you cut a sticky cheese with a different knife from a crumbly, aged Remeker.

You let leftover cheese go to waste

Do you still have leftover cheese from a party or a good cheeseboard? Don’t let those leftovers waste away in the fridge; use them up. Bake a flammkuchen to be proud of, conjure a pizza milione fromaggio out of your oven or go for a quiche extra-ordinaire, or come up with something else divine in which you can use all the leftover cheese—and enjoy even the tiniest scraps.

Read also:

• 10x unnecessary facts about cheese that you secretly still want to know
• Cheese according to your zodiac sign
• Limoncello cheese really exists, and we can’t wait to taste it

Source: Serious Eats