Photo courtesy of Kerry Jerred

Meet the Cheesemonger: Your Inspiration as a Cheese Grotto Owner

A Cheesemonger (you know, that person on the other side of the cheese counter?) isn’t just someone who sells cheese. They’re specialists, caretakers, educators, and enthusiastic translators of one of the world’s most delicious—and complex—foods.

And as a Cheese Grotto owner, you’re closer to that role than you might think.

The word monger comes from the early English mangere, meaning a merchant who specializes in a particular product. Straightforward, yes—but for a true monger, that specialization reflects deep dedication. Often, it’s less of a job and more of a lifestyle.

Loving Cheese Is Required (But Not Enough)

Being a turophile—a lover of cheese—is essential. But it’s only the beginning.

A Cheesemonger understands why a cheese tastes the way it does, how it was made, how it will evolve over time, and exactly how to care for it from wheel to wedge to plate. They monitor temperature and humidity, manage airflow, face (scrape the cut surface), wrap and rewrap with intention, rotate stock, and watch for peak ripeness.

As The New York Times puts it, “A Cheesemonger is to cheese roughly as a sommelier is to wine: not a producer, but a knowledgeable interpreter, adviser and seller.” The role blends connoisseurship, sensory training, geography, history, and microbiology.

As a Cheese Grotto owner, you begin learning those very same rhythms. You start noticing how a bloomy rind softens over the days. You observe how moisture affects texture. You learn when to let a cheese breathe and when to cover it. The actions of a Cheesemonger—attentive, responsive, intuitive—are mirrored in your own kitchen.

The Cheesemonger exemplifies what it means to tend cheese as something alive. A Grotto owner practices that same art at home.

Photo courtesy of The Cheesemongers, a cheese shop in Canada

Our Essential Cheesemonger Cheese Care Guide

Specialty cheeses continue to develop and ferment when wedges and wheels are brought into your home. Below are a list of cheesemonger care guidelines for the many different types of specialty cheeses that exist, which can be applied perfectly to home storage and care in your Grotto.

Store cheese in plastic only when necessary

There are certain select rindless hard cheeses like cheddar and havarti that can be vacuum-sealed to maintain shelf-life for months.  While vacuum sealing cheeses can significantly prolong shelf-life, there is no texture or flavor development as there is when stored in a Grotto, and they often become plasticky in character.

Specialty cheeses with active rinds are often wrapped in plastic wrap for shop display, but they aren’t made to be wrapped in plastic for long-term storage. Because of this, cheesemongers are required to regularly unwrap and rewrap cheeses at the cheese counter, while practicing proper cheese maintenance to ensure a cheese will stay in prime condition for as long as possible. 

Maintain natural cheese rinds

Blooms like Geotrichum candidum and Penicillium Candidum on bloomy rinded cheeses (brie, camembert, robiola, etc) help form the white, bloomy rind early in aging, which cheesemakers pat down into that smooth, snowy coating we recognize. You may see this continue to form as your bloomy rinded cheeses age in the Grotto. This is 100% natural and is a welcome development on that cheese! Patting the wheel down and flipping the wheel will ensure even coverage and even aging of the wheel.

Create a separate space for blue cheeses

Blue molds (Penicillium Roqueforti) will also continue to develop and get shared with other cheeses in the Grotto. This is why Cheesemongers will keep these styles separate and take extra care in their containment and you should too. Generally, place them on a separate shelf or cover them gently with a piece of wax paper,  parchment, or cupcake liner.

Face the cut surface of cheeses when mold appears

• On cut wedges, there is ongoing activity that can appear as white, gray, or blue mold on the cut, exposed surface.
• Remove early surface mold (often a faint white, dusty look).
• Improve flavor by removing slightly oxidized surface paste.
• For firm cheeses, small spots of mold on the cut face can usually be trimmed away safely by gently scraping away the cut surface with the back of a knife, or cutting off a thin surface of the cheese. 
• For soft cheeses, mold can penetrate deeper—trim at least an inch around and below the affected area.
• Mold on fresh cheeses (chèvre, fromage blanc, mozzarella) means it’s time to compost.
• Avoid black mold (rare but unsafe) and watch for pink bacteria, which can develop when cheese suffocates in tight plastic wrap.

Check in with your cheese to prevent unwanted development

• Specialty cheese isn't a "set it and forget it" type of experience, and is always best enjoyed when cut fresh.
• Adjust humidity and airflow if wedges and wheels of cheese are too active with cheese mold
• Enjoy refrigerated fresh styles of cheese within 3 to 7 days. Fresh, rindless cheeses should always be stored in the fridge as they do not contain ripening cultures.
• Enjoy refrigerated bloomy rinds within a few weeks, depending on the age of the wedge or wheel when purchased
• Enjoy refrigerated aged cheeses within a month
• Storing cheeses unwrapped in your Grotto inside the fridge can extend their life up to about 3 weeks before mold develops.
• Storing cheeses unwrapped in your Grotto on the counter at room temperature means cheeses should be enjoyed within 1 to 5 days, under 70 degrees F, with softer cheeses ripening faster than hard cheeses. 

We hope this guide will help you navigate the cheese in your Grotto, and build confidence and reverence for the cheesemonger’s role in cheese care. 

Got questions about mold, microbes, or other cheese science-y stuff? Let us know!

Jessica Sennett - Founder, Inventor

 and Chief Cheesemonger