In This ArticleView AllIn This ArticleWax-Dipped CheeseBloomy-Rind CheeseWashed-Rind CheeseNatural-Rind CheeseBlue CheeseFlavored RindsBottom Line
In This ArticleView All
View All
In This Article
Wax-Dipped Cheese
Bloomy-Rind Cheese
Washed-Rind Cheese
Natural-Rind Cheese
Blue Cheese
Flavored Rinds
Bottom Line
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Let’s start with the outlier. Wax, a pliable paraffin blend specifically formulated for use on wheels of cheese (as opposed to making candles or sealing letters with your family crest) is FDA-approved as food-safe, and keeps out damaging light, air and stray microorganisms as the cheese moves about the world. It can add an attractive, colorful aesthetic to the wheel. But even if it’s food-safe, that doesn’t mean you should eat it. Peel or cut it off before you enjoy the cheese, please!
On to the softies. “For all those white, round, Brie-style cheeses, known as bloomy-rind cheeses, the rind is what makes that cheese. It’s helping ripen from the outside in, it’s contributing to the texture, so take a bite of that and decide from there,” Bland says. These rinds form from a particular type of mold that he refers to as “controlled and expected mold.” If they are white or ivory, yum; if there are black or red spots, consider that a warning.
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Some bloomy-rind cheeses are wrapped around the middle with a piece of spruce bark, which adds a slightly resinous flavor to the cheese. These beg to have their top rind completely removed so that folks can dip their bread into the unctuous middle. And that is the right way to eat these types of cheese, though Bland thinks that training us cheese-lovers to remove a huge hunk of perfectly edible bloomy rind may be doing a disservice to rind lovers. That said, he has been known to indulge in a dip nonetheless.
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Blue cheeses, while aging in a cave, develop a heavy internal ribboning and coating of blue mold, known asPenicillium roqueforti, that creates the flavorful, spicy taste that Gorgonzola and Stilton lovers adore. After aging, the outsides of these wheels get cleaned up and wrapped in foil, which keeps them moist, but allows exposure to air to let the cheese completely develop, and you can eat every bit.
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The rules become both more simple and more complicated when it comes to cheese wheels that boast flavored rinds, studded with cracked peppercorns, herbs or even flower petals. We’ve seen everything from South Asian spices and coffee beans to bee pollen and vegetable ash packed onto cheeses to complement the flavor of the paste (that’s cheese-geek language for the inside of the cheese). These rinds are clearly meant to be edible, but remember, there is no right answer, and if you find the intense flavors to detract from the integrity of the rest of the bite, you may politely leave the rind to the side of your plate.
Aside from wax coatings and spruce bark, most cheese rinds are likely edible. But that doesn’t mean you have to eat them if you don’t like them. Think about the cheesemaker back in their creamery. Was their intention when they chose the rind to protect the cheese from harm as it aged, or to enhance the flavor and texture of the experience? If it’s the former, the rind may not be worth eating. If there’s a chance that tasting the rind may add a new dimension to your favorite cheese, why not give it a try?
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