Call me a cheese geek (I readily confess), but wrapping cheese carefully has always given me particular satisfaction. Perhaps it’s my own small homage to the considerable labors of the cheesemaker, the least I can do being to send the wedge or wheel on its way looking its best. Taking care to wrap cheese serves a dual purpose. It’s not only pleasing to the eye but is essential to keeping the cheese in the best possible condition. A badly wrapped cheese will deteriorate much more quickly than a well-wrapped one.
What follows are some step-by-step instructions for swaddling those challenging cheese shapes armed only with a sheet of paper and a small amount of sticky tape. If you find a method that works better for you, that is fine too (and we’d love to hear about it). The important thing is to ensure that the cheese is entirely covered by paper, but not wrapped so tight that it’s strangled. Remember, cheese is alive.
TRIANGLE WEDGE
Step 1: Place the wedge of cheese along the center line or crease of the paper. This will provide a good positioning guide, ensuring that the cheese is entirely covered by the paper when it’s wrapped.
Step 2: Bring one edge of the paper over the top of the cheese and down the other side. Form a crease in the paper with your fingers where the two pieces of paper meet. Fold the outside edge of the paper toward the middle, encasing all but the thick end of the cheese.
Step 3: “Roll” the wedge of cheese toward the edge of the paper, making sure that the paper is taut (not super tight), and fasten with a piece of scotch tape.
Step 4: Fold the open side ends of paper inward to meet each other in the middle (like a paper dart).
Step 5: Fold the “point” of paper at the thick end toward the cheese to enclose the wedge. Fasten with a piece of tape.
ASYMMETRICAL WEDGE
This is one of the most challenging shapes of cheese to wrap well.
Step 1: Align one of the cut edges of the cheese along the center crease or fold of the paper. This will provide a good positioning guide, ensuring that the cheese is entirely covered by the paper when it’s wrapped.
Step 2: Bring the top half of the paper over the top of the cheese. Fold the outer loose edge nearest you once toward the cut face of the cheese.
Step 3: Then fold again, this time taking the paper over the top of the cheese toward the other loose edge.
Step 4: Bring the two edges together in a point and fold inward toward the cheese. Fasten with a piece of tape.
Feature Photo Credit: Image from food52; all other photos: Gregory Chechin
Kate Arding
Kate Arding is an independent dairy consultant specializing in small-scale cheese production and an original co-founder of culture: the word on cheese. A native of Britain, Kate has worked in the farmhouse cheese industry for 18 years, first as wholesale manager for Neal's Yard Dairy in London and later helping establish Cowgirl Creamery and Tomales Bay Foods in California. Since 2003 Kate has worked extensively both in the United States and overseas as an independent consultant, specializing in affinage, sales and marketing, and helping small-scale cheesemakers adapt to changing market demands.
Thanks for the article! Info about cheese wrapping is (surprisingly) not widely available. Would love to see some accompanying demo videos at some point as well. Cheers!
I put my cheese in a zip lock baggie with a folded paper towel that I replace every other day.
Fine article but you forgot to say what type of paper
I recommend actual cheese wrapping paper that is two-ply with micro-perforated saran for the outside and the inside layer is a waxed paper. Available from home cheesemaking suppliers like The Beverage People or New England Cheesemaking.