Our line of Cheese Grottos was designed to be multi-functional. Sure, it’s a cheese storage solution, keeping your unwrapped wedges fresh for up to three weeks at refrigerator temperatures or seven days at room temp on the counter. But the Grotto can be so much more.

It’s a home cheese cave, allowing you to age cheese at home and hone in on cheese humidity with a digital hygrometer. It’s also a beautiful mobile cheese board set that can go from mimosas in bed to a picnic in the park to a festive dinner party. Here are 10 ways to use the Grotto to take your cheese experience to the next level.

1) Keeping Cheese Fresher for Longer in the Fridge, Unwrapped

First and foremost, we've put the Grotto through rigorous testing over numerous years to ensure that it can keep your wedges and wheels of cheese fresher for longer than plastic wrap, cheese paper, and tupperware.  Both cheese experts and dairy scientists have approved our design.  The reason being is that the Grotto creates an optimal climate for the cheese - breathable, humid, with no condensation - so cheese can last three to four times longer. To dig deeper into this topic, you can visit the Cheese Storage Guide section of our blog!

2) Storing Cheese Like the French Do (At Room Temperature, Unwrapped)

Ah yes - to live like the French do with their daily delicious cheese ready to serve on their countertop.  Fortunately, you can do it too with the Cheese Grotto.  Don't have enough room in the fridge at the moment for the Grotto?  Have smaller portions of cheese you'd like to enjoy throughout the week before you head back to the cheese shop?  The Cheese Grotto keeps your cheese tempered and fresh.  Just make sure that your kitchen isn't sweltering hot - keep it under 70 degrees F.

3) Aging Homemade Cheese

Although this is a secondary use for our Cheese Grottos, we are surprised by how many people are starting to adventure in at-home cheesemaking and need a way to age their cheese! Since the Cheese Grotto has been modeled after traditional cheese caves, they can very well be used for that at home cheese-aging project.  Just make sure to keep the Grotto in a regulated temperature environment, like a cool, clean wine cellar, that can control the proper temperature for the cheese you are aging.  Need a bigger Grotto for your cheesemaking projects?  We're no strangers to custom-sized Grottos, design your Dream Cheese Grotto here! Some of our at home tips are for Fresh Bloomy Rind cheeses like this Fresh Crottin or an at home Ricotta Salata Recipe.  More Cheesemaking Recipes to come in 2020.

4) Ripening Small Wheels of Cheese to Perfection

Did you purchase a small wheel of cheese at the cheese shop that's a little too young and firm for your liking? That's where the Cheese Grotto comes in.  Leave the little wheel in the Grotto on the kitchen counter for a few days and watch it continue to ripen and soften.  Become the master of your own level of cheese funk (also known as a cheese affineur).

5) Serving Cheese at Dinner 

The removable serving trays in the Grotto dual as cheese serving boards, so you have two great options here: 

• You can simply slide the shelf out and serve before, during, or after dinner.
• You can bring the whole Grotto to the table as an excellent conversation piece. Just place it right next to your decanting wine and you've got a match-made in heaven and a guaranteed good time.

6) Making a One to Two-Tiered Cheese Board

Cherry Bombe Magazine has called 2020 the Year of the Cheese Board.  Scan your social media feeds and you'll find this is a statement made with good reason - cheese boards are all the rage these days.  Try building your next cheese board straight into your Grotto and follow our nifty guide here.

7) Serving Cheese and Mimosas in Bed (Best Brunch Idea, Ever)

Let's admit that there is never enough ideas on how to excel at breakfast in bed on a lazy day.  Fortunately our smallest Cheese Grotto Piatto fits perfectly on your average bedside serving tray and can accommodate a cheese plate for two. Serve with fresh fruit, mimosas, and coffee.  Any cheese lover would be on Cloud Nine.

8) Romantic Cheese, Chocolate, and Sparkling Wine in the Bathtub

Although less practical than some of the other ideas in this post, it's also highly doable.  And now that you've seen it in action, do you have a choice, really?  Our one pro-tip is the Grottos made with the frame of pre-finished Baltic Birch have a nice protective coating to protect against bubbles.  Balance the Grotto along tub-side at your own risk. 

9) Backyard Cheese Party

For those warmer months of the year, when all you want to do is be outside with your cheese. The Grotto can keep all those cheeses safe while you chat, drink rosé wine, and all-around enjoy life.  Plus, our newest Cheese Grotto Piatto model can be assembled and disassembled with the pre-installed magnets, so you can even travel with the Grotto in a tote or box and assemble it at your outdoor party destination.

10) Improved Office Cheese Culture

Cheese blogger Tenaya Darlington keeps the Cheese Grotto at her desk at work so she can enjoy cheese throughout the week, check it out here! You can also entertain clients and employees in a whole new way, especially the ones who have a profound love for cheese.

What's your favorite way to use the Grotto?

Out of all these ideas, which one inspires you the most to take your cheese life to a whole new level? Do you have any other fun tips on how you've used your own Cheese Grotto at home? Answer in the comments below!