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STORAGE OF CHEESE
A contentious subject!
And one about which we are continually asked, so perhaps it's time to discuss the pros and cons of how best to keep this fragile commodity.
Firstly, how do we store cheese in our shop? Well, we have to comply with Health and Safety regulations which demand that cheese is stored below certain temperatures, and therefore we go in for refrigeration in a big way, which is necessary when we stock over a hundred cheeses from many different regions and countries. In the old days it was much easier. Cheese was produced and sold locally and, if it did have to be kept for some time to mature, like Stilton, nobody much minded finding a few dozen maggots in the cheese - it was all extra protein! Daniel Defoe described being served Stilton 'with the mites and maggots round it so thick, that they bring a spoon for you to eat the mites with, as you do the cheese'. There are some good ways of storing cheese that do not involve refrigerators - exclude air and contamination by immersing the cheese in a liquid which preserves it. Hence the tradition of feta being sold in brine, or cheeses from the Mediterranean being bottled in oil.
We do not hold enormous stocks of cheese, preferring to let traditional farm cheeses be matured by their makers in traditional cellars or rooms which are very cool and of the correct humidity. However, once cheese reaches us it has to be refrigerated and is kept in a fridge which is quite humid to prevent it cracking and drying out. For display in the shop it again has to be refrigerated (particularly as the shop faces south and can become quite warm in the summer, even with the help of air-conditioning). Our cut cheese has to be wrapped in cling film for various reasons - to avoid contamination when being handled, to prevent it from drying out, and also because this is the best way to display it. We were once told by a gentleman in the shop that all our cheeses should be wrapped in damp muslin - but how would potential customers be able to see them? It's just not practical!
In an ideal world the customer would not need to store cheese at all; the product would simply be bought, taken home, and immediately eaten. Naturally, this often happens. But sometimes a customer will want to buy cheese on a Friday morning and serve it for lunch on Sunday. Again, in an ideal world, they would put it in a cool cellar or larder - and this, assuming you have such luxuries at home, is the perfect way to keep small whole cheeses, such as Camemberts or perhaps a wrapped wedge of Stilton or Cheddar. Most of us are left with the good old refrigerator - and most of us have, at some time, left a poorly wrapped piece of cheese in a fridge and taken it out to discover that it is as hard and fissured as a field at the end of August (perhaps not a typical English August!). So the cheese does need to be wrapped - but in what? Personally, we would keep cut cheese for our own consumption in plastic food bags, which prevent contamination and keep the product moist. And we wouldn't keep it too long! Cheese is like cut flowers - best after purchase, OK for a few days, and then it's downhill all the way. We have had cheeses brought in to us for identification by customers who have kept them for eight weeks (in a fridge) and it has been very hard to identify the product from the sad brown remains at the bottom of a plastic pot …
Here are some other views. First, Glyn Christian, TV chef and food journalist: "Once cheeses have been cut they should be stored at a cool temperature with the exposed edges protected from the air until the last minute before eating and, yes, that does mean cling film and a refrigerator. Letting cheese 'breathe' unwrapped or storing it in a cheese bell at room temperature are the worst and most dangerous things imaginable, for both encourage the growth of unwelcome bacteria. You will only see cheese sweating in cling film if the cling film is not tight or the temperature is too warm, which would happen whatever the wrapping medium. Greaseproof paper does cheese badly for two reasons: it slowly absorbs the fat content and, being porous, lets air in and out, whilst also keeping a layer of slow-moving air trapped against the surface, exactly right for the growth of moulds. Foil is as impervious as cling film and it can react with acidity and is thus best used only briefly."
We tend to agree with Mr Christian, but others would dissent. A specialist cheese shop in the States, the Ideal Cheese Shop, says: "Drop that cling wrap! It's time to stop suffocating your cheese." Robert Smith in The Great Cheeses of Britain and Ireland agrees that cheese should be refrigerated but also suggests using cheese bells and foil; Sarah Freeman in The Real Cheese Companion has various ideas for storage including refrigerators, car boots, waxed paper, food bags, and cling film, but agrees that a windowsill is probably not a good idea! However, the general consensus is that, however you store your cheese, it should always be allowed to warm up to room temperature to allow the full flavour to develop - perhaps an exception should be made for very fresh creamy cheeses which are better served slightly chilled to prevent them leaking puddles of liquid!
It just goes to show that there is no one right answer and that different people find that different methods of cheese storage work well for them, just as we all have our own different favourite cheese!
