Storage Cheese should be stored in a cool place: Harder cheeses at about 10 °C. For softer and blue cheeses 4°C is ideal. A good compromise is to store your cheese in the vegetable compartment of your fridge, usually at around 4.5°C. It can be stored in its original wrapper. Though, if you are removing portions, you can re-wrap in clingfilm or greaseproof paper.
Rinds and Dates Cheese is a natural product, and as such from time to time you can expect some blooms and moulds to develop on the outside, this is perfectly natural. Some people prefer not to eat the rind at all, generally on hard cheeses the rind is best removed, on softer cheeses it is a case of personal preference - bear in mind that the cheese (paste) just under the rind is usually the tastiest! Best before and use by dates should be respected, remember that for those buying early for Christmas this may mean that the cheese needs to be consumed in advance of Christmas Day, please check the dates rather than assuming that they will all last through the holiday season. | | Serving When serving, remove only the amount you think you will use about an hour before serving, and allow to come to room temperature. Leaving cheese come up to room temperature allows it to develop a fuller, more aromatic flavour. Having said that many modern houses are too warm for 'chambre-ing' cheeses, and cheese can become overly pungent, runny and 'sweaty' if kept at too warm a temperature. Try and let the cheese come up to temperature in a cool room of your warm house
Quantities For a cheeseboard allow somewhere around 75-100g of cheese in total for each guest. Therefore If you are serving 10 people with 4 cheeses, you would serve 750g-1kg in total, so a minimum of 200g of each cheese.
The amount of cheese required will also depend on whether the cheeses are to be served after dinner, at a tasting, as finger food etc. The manner in which the cheese is to be served - whether as individual cheese plates, buffet style, or as cheeseboards - will also affect the quantities required. Lastly - cheese is a product to be enjoyed, and our aim is to ensure this happens, so, please eat in good company, preferably with a good bottle of wine! |