Cheese: how to choose, store and melt it, and build a cheese board
Cheese families from fresh to hard, which cheeses melt stretchy and which turn oily, a lump-free cheese sauce, why cling film is bad for cheese, how to build a cheese board for a crowd, what to serve with it and how much to buy per guest.
Five cheese families
There are thousands of cheeses, but almost every one falls into one of a few families. The family tells you how the cheese behaves in cooking and how long it keeps.
- Fresh (mozzarella, ricotta, feta, cream cheese, burrata) — delicate and moist, keep for days.
- Soft bloomy-rind (brie, camembert) — creamy inside with a white mould rind.
- Semi-hard (gouda, edam, young cheddar, tilsit) — versatile, melt well.
- Hard aged (parmesan, pecorino, mature cheddar, gruyère) — bold, salty, crystalline, keep for a long time.
- Blue (gorgonzola, danish blue, roquefort) — veined with blue mould, spicy and sharp.
How different cheeses melt
Meltability depends on moisture, age and acidity. Young moist cheeses stretch; aged dry ones melt and add flavour but don't stretch. Some cheeses don't melt at all.
- Stretchy: mozzarella (the low-moisture "pizza" kind is best), suluguni, young cheddar, emmental, gouda.
- Smooth melters: gruyère, fontina, raclette — ideal for fondue, sauces and toasties.
- Flavour but no stretch: parmesan, pecorino — for grating over, risotto and pasta.
- Non-melting: halloumi, paneer, feta — these can be fried to a crust.
Cheese sauce without lumps or oil
Cheese in a sauce seizes and turns oily when overheated: the proteins tighten into clumps and the fat escapes. That's why cheese goes in at the end and the sauce isn't boiled.
The classic version starts with béchamel: 30 g butter, 30 g flour, 400 ml milk; once it thickens, take it off the heat and stir in 150–200 g grated cheese a little at a time.
- Grate your own: pre-grated cheese contains anti-caking starch and makes a grainy sauce.
- Let the cheese come to room temperature.
- A drop of lemon juice or a spoon of cream cheese helps keep the sauce smooth.
- If the sauce splits, add a spoon of hot milk and whisk hard.
How to store cheese
Cheese is a living product: it needs to breathe a little without drying out. Tight cling film traps moisture, and mould and a plastic taste soon appear on the surface.
- Hard and semi-hard: wrap in baking paper or wax paper, then loosely in a bag. Bottom shelf or salad drawer.
- Fresh: in their own brine or water in a closed container; change feta brine if it turns cloudy.
- Soft with a rind: in the original wrapping or baking paper, away from other foods.
- Blue: in foil, so the mould doesn't spread to other cheeses.
- Hard aged cheeses freeze well grated — for cooking, not for the board.
The cheese board: a matter of contrast
A good cheese board is about variety, not quantity. Choose 3–5 cheeses that differ in milk, texture and flavour: from soft and mild to hard and bold.
- One soft: brie or camembert.
- One semi-hard: gouda, maasdam or young cheddar.
- One hard aged: parmesan, pecorino or aged gouda.
- One blue: gorgonzola or danish blue.
- Optionally a goat's or sheep's cheese for variety.
What to serve with cheese
Accompaniments set off the flavour of the cheese and give a pause between bites.
- Sweet: honey (especially with blue), figs, pear, grapes, dates, fig or onion jam.
- Crunchy: walnuts, almonds, pecans, crackers, baguette, breadsticks.
- Salty: olives, sun-dried tomatoes, cornichons.
- Fresh: apple slices, berries, rosemary sprigs to garnish.
Serving and portions
Take the cheese out of the fridge 30–60 minutes before serving — cold cheese has almost no aroma and tastes bland.
Arrange it clockwise from the mildest to the strongest — that way it's easy to taste in order. Give each cheese its own knife so the flavours don't mix.
- As a starter before dinner — 50–60 g cheese per person.
- As the main treat of the evening — 120–150 g per person.
- Leave soft cheeses whole — they're easy to scoop.
- Cut hard cheeses into wedges or break them into chunks with a parmesan knife.
Hot dishes with cheese
Cheese opens up with heat but doesn't forgive overheating. Baked camembert is an easy party dish: score the top, push in garlic and rosemary, bake for 15 minutes at 180 °C and serve with toast.
Fried halloumi or suluguni: 1 cm slices in a hot dry pan for 1–2 minutes a side until golden. Serve at once — as it cools, the cheese turns rubbery.
Questions and answers
Why does the cheese on my pizza go oily?＋
The cheese is too fatty or aged, or the pizza was overbaked. Use low-moisture pizza mozzarella and don't overdo the baking time.
Can I eat the rind of brie and camembert?＋
Yes — the white mould rind is edible and part of the flavour. Wax and paraffin rinds on hard cheeses aren't eaten.
How long does opened cheese keep?＋
Hard — 3–4 weeks, semi-hard — 1–2 weeks, soft — about a week, fresh — 3–5 days after opening.
Can cheese be frozen?＋
Hard and semi-hard cheeses can, ideally grated, for hot dishes. They crumble after freezing. Soft and fresh cheeses lose their texture.
How many cheeses should go on a board?＋
Three to five. Fewer is dull; more and the flavours start to blur together.
Try it in practice
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