The Snack Social: Caring Is Sharing

By Patricia Racine

April 2026

So, now that you have bought this glorious and somewhat pricey cheese, what do you do with it on the off chance you didn’t gobble it up in one sitting? Like a child, it is a living organism, you can’t just toss it in the fridge in a half-opened package, but you also can’t be like a helicopter parent and wrap it up tight in plastic wrap to “protect” it from everything.

Cheese is considered a living food, meaning that enzymes in it are constantly breaking down proteins and fats to reveal the flavors and textures we crave. The life cycle of a piece of cheese starts out like most young things, dewy, soft and milky; then as it comes to maturity, you get perfect texture and complex flavors; finally in its old age, it becomes intense in flavor and texturally dry and crystally. The cycle of maiden, mother and crone of cheese, per say; and it’s inevitable that your piece can go through all of these cycles, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t slow it down a tad.

1. Put down the plastic wrap: What happens when you wrap plastic wrap around your husband’s head (peace and quiet)? He stops breathing. Well, cheese reacts the same way. Those living cultures suffocate and start to die. Which is why older cheese can give off an odor of ammonia. Instead, wrap the piece snugly in either cheese paper or parchment paper and then store it in a resealable container.

2. The kitchen cave: The best spot in your refrigerator to store cheese is one of the vegetable drawers. I personally have a drawer devoted solely to cheese, no judgment! The drawer is just a bit warmer than the rest of the fridge, resembling the cave environment cheese feels most at home in.

3. Whatever you do, do not package up your blue cheese with anything else. That is unless you want blue mold on all your other pieces. It doesn’t take much for those spores to infiltrate everything else; trust me, I saw how quickly it infiltrated an entire aging building last spring at the farm.

Speaking of mold, let’s discuss this touchy subject. There are some cheeses that are intentionally made with mold, blue cheese, washed rind and brie type cheeses. Most people see a spot of mold and throw the whole thing in the trash like it could kill them. Now, this may be the correct response for some molded cheese, but not for all. Any piece of soft, fresh or shredded cheese with mold on it should definitely be tossed; but the harder pieces will be fine if you just trim off about an inch around the mold.

Another trick for cheese care is to put a damp paper towel in the container with your dried out piece of cheese for 24-48 hours to rehydrate it. 

There is nothing worse than spending a good amount of money on a piece of cheese to just let it “die” on you quickly. If you are anything like me, you hoard your good cheese, and these care tips will come in handy. If there are any other cheese questions you have, please contact me at snacksocial13@gmail.comOO

Pro Tip: Stop your Cheese from molding by eating it all in one sitting.