Yup. It is.
Thank you for reading today's post.
~ karen!
OH you're still here.
I was kind of hoping to get out of here early today.
OMG you're still here.
O.K. fine. We'll talk about Cheese Paper. It's good.
I spent a couple of months a while back testing some of the most popular methods for storing cheese. But I still wasn't satisfied that I'd found the best method for storing cheese. There were a few comments in that blog post that I thought were worth giving a shot, one of which was to use cheesecloth to ........ wait for it ..... store cheese.
I know.
We're so stupid.
Would you like to save this stuff?
We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.
I mean, it's right in the name. The trick to using cheesecloth to store cheese apparently is to douse the cheesecloth with a bit of vinegar. The vinegar helps preserve the cheese and keep it from drying out without making it vinegary. Once you've wrapped the cheese you stick it in a plastic bag.
See, now ... I was kind of uncertain as to what a vinegar "dousing" was. I knew what a vinegar douche was, but not a douse. I assume a dousing was enough to make the cheesecloth damp.
A damp dousing.
That is where I was entirely wrong. I was very wrong in the wrongest of ways.
After a week wrapped in my vinegar doused cheesecloth, my cheese tasted like a slimy pickled sock . And not in a good way.
I'm sure it's my fault and there is a way to make this work but now that I've eaten the pickled sock cheese it isn't going to be an option I run to again anytime soon.
Luckily at the same time I had taken delivery of some Cheese Paper. I'd wanted to try it for months but I was just too cheap to buy it. (It's 9 bucks for a package of 15 sheets of it.) If it didn't work that's $9 that I could have put towards a buying a goat named Francis to make my own cheese ... completely WASTED. Plus another reader had said she didn't have any luck with it.
But. I ordered it and tried it anyway. So when I did my vinegar/cheesecloth experiment I also did a Cheese Paper experiment.
Which I suppose I have to tell you about because for some unexplainable reason, you're still here.
I loved the Cheese Paper. It wraps up neatly and almost sticks to the cheese. It's different from wax paper in that it's breathable but also seals in moisture somehow. Like magic paper. And unlike plastic wrap (which won the first Cheese storing showdown) it doesn't make the cheese wet by trapping ALL the moisture in.
I mean, I knew that plastic wrap was pretty much the worst thing you could use for wrapping cheese, but everything else made the cheese dry out after almost no time at all.
I've had cheddar cheese wrapped for about a month now and it's just starting to look a bit suspicious to me. So it isn't really that cheese paper will make your cheese live forever, it's more that the cheese is way better when stored in it. It doesn't dry out and it doesn't go all weird and wet the way it does with plastic wrap.
Really I'd probably only use this Cheese Paper for softer cheeses that do a lot of stinking, sweating, weeping and oozing. The kind of cheese that smells like a 2 week old wound. You know, the expensive stuff.
So is Cheese Paper worth the cost?
Yup. It is.
Thank you for reading today's post.
~ karen!
Howard B
I started using cheese paper a few years ago when the Betty Crocker brand started showing up in our local dollar store. It works great but I've found it performs best when you don't wrap it tightly around the cheese. Instead I wrap it loosely and fold over each end and put a loose fitting elastic band around each end. They supply stickers in the cheese paper package but I found they adhere too well and cause it to rip.
So recently the dollar store chain stopped stocking it. No reason or rhyme. Their stock is often just overstock warehouse products that are bought up and sold until they run out. Too bad because a box of 18 large pieces only cost $3.75 CAD. I've looked for cheese paper online and it is not cheap. I'm going to do a little experiment myself using wax paper. I'm going to fold it loosely around the cheese the same way. I suspect the results to be positive. At least better than leaving it in the plastic that cheese comes in. Also, more expensive cheeses harder seem to last longer but I've had pretty good results even with mozzarellas in cheese paper. They just don't last as long because mozzarella is so good and gets used up. Cheese paper definitely helps with extra old cheddar. Cheddar is a fairly fat rich cheese and those fats tend to sweat out of whatever size block you have. That fat does not like being trapped up against the block itself with no air and contributed to spoilage so loosely wrapping it is imperative.
Thanks for the article...I did follow it all the way to the bottom 😄
Karen
Good to know! Thanks Howard. ~ karen!
Becci McDaniel
My grocery store gives me a piece of cheese paper every time I get cheese from the deli counter. I love it. It doubles (at least) the amount of time any type of cheese can be stored in the fridge before it starts to get moldy.
Kristen
Hi Karen! I was listening to The Dinner Party Download podcast and they had the creator of the Cheese Grotto on and I immediately thought of you. I don't know if you ever heard of it or if someone else mentioned it but here is the link: http://cheesegrotto.com/ I think it's a fairly new product/company? cause they don't have a price on it yet, but it might be something worth keeping an eye on if you have the space in your kitchen for this type of thing. Anyway, thought you might enjoy!
Shirley Curtis
Karen when I saw this post - https://littlellewellynhomestead.wordpress.com/2016/05/15/beeswax-wraps-diy/ I thought of your on-going search for good cheese wrap (beside in your stomach). I think this might be worth a try. Also we were in New Zealand several years ago and visited a winery that had a cheese store attached - have no idea what a place that makes and sells cheese is called - a Cheesery? They recommended storing cheese in small linen bags. Have never tried that as I too store my cheese in my stomach!
Karen
Hi Shirley! Thanks. I actually did a post on how to make your own Beeswax Cloth a few years ago. :) I have used it for cheese, but the cheese doesn't last very long in it before starting to go hard. :/ It works great! It just doesn't work for long term. ~ karen!
Kari
Haha your description of cheese sounds so appetizing.
Audrey
Do you think this Cheese Paper is the same a freezer paper? That is what my cheese vendor wraps my cheese in. I'm way to cheap to by Cheese Paper.
Karen
Hi Audrey, no it's definitely not the same as freezer paper. :/ Like I say, I'll probably just use the cheese paper for good cheese that I buy like certain blue cheeses and such. So at that rate I'm sure a box of 12 sheets will probably last me a year. When I looked at it that way I realized it really wasn't much money. :) ~ karen!
Melissa Keyser
I just store my cheese in a pyrex container with a lid. Works fine for me!
But then, I'm not in the camp of people that really is concerned with cheese turning hard/spoiling, because who on earth can keep cheese in their fridge for a whole month and not eat it?!
Feta, though, goes bad fast if not under that salty water. Gross, rank, rotten feta = no good.
Shauna
Just bought the cheese bags using your link for cheese paper - enjoy your .50 cent affiliate earnings:) But seriously, I'm kinda excited about this. I found good paper sandwich bags that I like too. I still use ziplok bags, but when I can, I try not to.
Robin
We use wax paper and then tuck it into a plastic bag and seal it, store it in the cheese drawer, not the door. Our cheese never dries out this way, albeit it does get a better wrap job from me than the man in the house. I used to use the excuse that it was a waste of cheese to coat the inside of a plastic bag with it, but it was really to extend the life of the cheese (my grandfather taught me this) We have great luck with this method, but it also could be that a "good" block of cheese, usually 2-5 year old cheddar, our preference for ultimate flavor that does not resemble chewing on a plastic processed cheese wrapper, does not last long in our house with two avid cheese consumers!
Mary Kay
Obviously you all not eating your cheese fast enough.
Jody
Are you there? Oh, good you're still there. Funny and informative APU.
Nancy Blue Moon
I will give these a try...my son and I are avid cheezers..lol...
Tori
So did you ever figure out how much vinegar constituted a dousing?
Kelli
Well, it does come with stickers!
Ev Wilcox
I will try the cheese bags from Amazon-thanks for the info! And yes, the vacu-suck machines are a pain for short term use!
Teddee Grace
Great tip. I went to Amazon and see that there are also Cheese Bags. I was a little dismayed to see that there was actually a used one for sale, though.
Ruth
I wondered the last time around... and I'm still wondering... Why not just EAT the cheese? Surely it can't go bad within a week or two? (especially in your fancy refrigerator :-) )