A Guide to Storing Soft Cheese at Home

Why soft cheese needs different treatment to hard cheese

A mature Cheddar will shrug off a week of neglect. A ripe Brie will not. Soft cheeses are high in moisture and, in many cases, still alive — the moulds and bacteria on the rind carry on ripening the paste from the outside in, long after you've brought it home. That's why a Camembert left in the fridge door for a fortnight can turn from buttery and gentle into something ammoniac and bitter, while the same cheese eaten within a few days is one of the great pleasures of the larder.

The aim of good storage is simple: slow the ripening down, protect the rind from drying out, and keep the cheese away from anything that will taint it. Get those three things right and a soft cheese will taste as the maker intended when you finally cut into it.

Wrap it in waxed paper, not cling film

Cling film is the single most common mistake. It seals a soft cheese in its own breath, trapping moisture against the rind until it turns slimy and starts smelling of ammonia. It also compresses the delicate bloomy rind that gives a Brie its character.

Waxed paper — sometimes sold as cheese paper, and often a two-layer sheet with a greaseproof outer — lets the cheese breathe while still holding in enough humidity to stop it cracking. If you don't have proper cheese paper, a sheet of baking parchment works well, wrapped loosely and then tucked into a lidded box.

• Bloomy rinds (Brie, Camembert, soft goat's cheeses): waxed paper, then into a loose-fitting container.
• Washed rinds (Époisses, Taleggio, Munster): waxed paper, and keep them well away from other cheeses — they are gloriously smelly and will share.
• Blue soft cheeses (Gorgonzola dolce, creamy blues): waxed paper, then foil, so the blue mould doesn't migrate to your Brie.
• Fresh soft cheeses (ricotta, mascarpone, cottage cheese, mozzarella): these are the exception. Keep them in their original tub or a tightly covered container, as they have no rind to protect them.

Whatever you use, change the wrapping every few days. Old paper holds stale smells and moisture.

Find the warmest part of the fridge

Most domestic fridges run at around 4°C, which is a touch cold for a ripening soft cheese but perfectly workable. The trick is placement. The coldest spots are the back wall and the lower shelves, where cold air pools. The warmest are generally the door and the upper shelf — though the door suffers the biggest temperature swings every time you open it.

For a cheese you'll eat within a few days, the top shelf or a lidded cheese box in the door is fine. For anything longer, go for the middle of the fridge, in a sealed box, and accept that it will ripen a little more slowly than a shop's cheese room would manage. If you have a vegetable drawer that runs slightly warmer, that's an excellent home too.

A dedicated cheese box is worth the few pounds. It keeps the humidity steady, contains strong aromas, and stops the rind absorbing whatever else is in there — onions, smoked fish and cut melon are all enthusiastic saboteurs.

Bring it to room temperature before serving

This is the single biggest improvement most people can make, and it costs nothing. A soft cheese eaten straight from the fridge tastes flat, rubbery and muted. The fats are set, the aromatics are locked in, and even a beautiful cheese comes across as bland.

Take it out at least an hour before you plan to eat it, and longer in winter or in a cool kitchen — two hours is not excessive for a whole small cheese. Unwrap it so the rind can dry slightly, and leave it on a board or a plate rather than in its box. If the weather is warm, keep an eye on it; you want soft and fragrant, not collapsing.

The change is startling. The same cheese that tasted of nothing at noon will be rich, nutty and mushroomy by two o'clock.

Fresh soft cheeses are a different job

Ricotta, mascarpone, cottage cheese and fresh mozzarella have no rind and no protective mould, which makes them far more perishable. Keep them in the fridge at all times, in a sealed container, and eat them within a few days of opening.

• Fresh mozzarella is happiest in its own whey or brine. Once opened, cover it and use within two or three days.
• Ricotta and mascarpone should be transferred to a clean container once opened, and kept well covered — they absorb fridge smells remarkably quickly.
• Soft goat's cheese without a rind will keep a week or so, but check it daily.

Mould, rind and knowing when to stop

On a ripened soft cheese, the rind is meant to be there. White bloomy rinds may develop brown or grey patches as they age, and a blue cheese will happily grow a little extra mould. Trim those spots off, and the paste beneath is usually perfectly good.

What you're looking out for is a change in the paste. If the inside has gone runny and brown at the edges, smells sharply of ammonia, or tastes bitter and metallic, the cheese has gone too far. The same goes for any pinkish or slimy patches on a fresh cheese, or a sour, yeasty smell coming from the tub.

Buy little and often. Soft cheese at its peak is a short-lived thing, and no amount of careful storage beats eating it while it's exactly right.