This is how you store hard cheese properly in the refrigerator.
Nelli Steer is a cheesemonger. According to him, cheese should never be wrapped in plastic. Karoliina Vuorenmäki
Ripe cheese should never be stored in plastic, says the owner of the Rolling Cheese cheese shop in Helsinki Nellie Steer.
When you buy so-called gourmet cheese, you should immediately take it out of the plastic wrap at home. If you don’t have cheese paper, you can wrap a piece of cheese in butter paper or baking paper.
Everyday cheeses sold in plastic packages are a different matter, because they are matured in plastic and are meant to be eaten quickly.
– Cheese is a living product and it must breathe. If you put cheese in plastic wrap or a plastic box and thus close off its oxygen supply, it goes bad very quickly, says Nelli Steer.
The paper wrapper helps the moisture level of the cheese to remain suitable, so that the cheese does not dry out or get too wet.
Nelli Steer does not recommend storing cheese in the refrigerator for long periods of time. You should only buy as much cheese at one time as you can eat within a week. Adobe Stock / AOP
Eat cheese at its best
According to Steer, cheese should be stored in the home refrigerator for no more than two weeks. Hard cheese in itself does not go bad quickly, but there are many other items in the refrigerator that affect the characteristics of the cheese.
For example, garlic food or bolognese sauce can give the cheese a distinct side taste. Vegetables, on the other hand, easily infect the surface of the cheese with mold.
– In general, you can only grate the mold off the cheese and eat it. Few people have cheese at home for so long that it would actually go bad, says Steer.
It’s more about the taste.
– You should eat cheese when it’s still at its best and buy pieces the size you can eat within a week, says Steer.
According to him, the home refrigerator is for storing cheese, not for ripening it. The ripening temperatures are separate and professionals take care of the cheeses during ripening.
Steer adds that the situation depends a little on the cheese. For example, grated parmesan can be stored in the refrigerator for a long time.
Instead, for example, Emmental will probably start to dry out and crack within two weeks. Cheese is no longer what it was at its best.