How to store and serve cheese
How should the cheese be stored?
Hard cheeses have been carefully selected to withstand a longer transit time. Don’t worry if it arrives a bit warm or a bit cold – cheese is durable. Hard, aged cheeses stay good for a long time. Many days for sure. Sometimes weeks. Bigger hunks of cheese last longer. If it looks and smelled as expected, it’s likely still great.
Soft cheeses and cheese spreads (like pimento and liptauer) are best eaten within a week or two of receiving them.
We wrap hand-cut wedges of cheese in a cheese bag before shipment, and you can continue to keep the cheese in that cheese bag. The next best option would be parchment or wax paper. After you open the cheese for a nibble, any remainders can be put back into the bag and closed with a simple roll or fold.
Store cheese in the fridge, ideally in the spot closest to 50 degrees. That will likely be the door of your refrigerator or in a drawer where the temperature is consistent but not too cold. Do not freeze your cheese! Cheese is a living thing. Freezing will stop the natural processes that keep cheese so tasty.
What if it’s got a little mold on it? A little mold is no problem. It’s a good sign, it means the cheese is alive. Scrape it off with a knife. But if there’s a lot of mold and it’s turning dark and funky it’s time to say goodbye.
What’s the best way to serve cheese?
Regardless of the kind of cheese, it’s best to take it out of the fridge about 20 to 30 minutes before serving it. Cheese tastes better at room temperature. It makes a world of difference: the aromas expand, becoming more complex; more of the fat spreads on your tongue, which makes the flavor more intense. When cheese is warm you’ll eat less of it and enjoy it more.
A closer look at Marieke Gouda cheese
In central Wisconsin, about halfway between Minneapolis and Green Bay sits the small town of Thorp, home to Penterman Farm. The farm was founded by Rolf and Marieke Penterman, immigrants from the Netherlands. Land was too expensive to set up a cheesemaking enterprise in Europe, so, lucky us, they settled in Wisconsin and starting making cheese.
The Pentermans make gouda every day, all year round, from their closed herd of about four hundred cows. The cows live indoors on comfy beds of playground sand, feed on silage and hay, and have access to spinning bristly brushes dangling in the corners of their pens to scratch their back when it itches. Automated scrapers remove manure from the floors and each cow wears a kind of bovine fit-bit that monitors their temperature, behavior, eating habits, if the cow is in heat (!), etc. The level of technology used may sound antithetical to artisan producers, but it’s not used to make the cows give more milk, just to keep them healthy. When 100% of the milk for your cheese comes from your own cows you tend to take care of them very, very well. These are well loved and well cared for animals and they produce really flavorful milk that becomes really flavorful gouda that rivals the best goudas coming out of The Netherlands.