Waxing Cheese

Tricia has been quite the cheese maker lately.  Daisy and Rosie have been producing a lot of milk that Tricia has learned to make into various type cheeses.  She's learning using the following book that she purchased from this website that has a wealth of information about Cheese making: Everything you want to know about making cheese at home



Cheese making book Tricia is reading & learning from



We've made a number of cheese wheels.  We're aging it in our refrigerator and have found that the longer the cheese ages, the better it tastes.  Which brings waxing cheese into the discussion.  Waxing your cheese is a very good way to protect your cheese while it ages and a good way to keep the cheese moisture right where you want it.  Have you ever left a block of store-bought cheese unsealed in the fridge?  After a few days, it becomes a dried-out inedible chunk of yellow stuff.  This is where cheese wax comes in:

 

A block of cheese wax

Tricia orders it from the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company, Inc.  Cheese Wax is made just for coating cheeses. It helps prevent unwanted mold growth while retaining moisture in the aging cheese. This wax is pliable and will not become brittle as will pure paraffin wax.  That is the product description from the website.

So you cut off a chunk of the cheese wax and melt it in a double-boiler.  Be sure to stay by the stove the entire time. 



Melting the cheese wax in a double boiler

Then, you simply brush it on your cheese wheel.  Several thin coats of wax are preferable to one thick coat. 

Brushing the wax onto the wheel of cheese

And here is the finished product - A nice wheel of waxed cheese! 


Waxed Cheese



 When you are ready to eat, simply peel the wax off of the cheese.  The neat thing about it is that you can save the wax, melt it and use it again and again.