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Walk along a cheese counter and you'll see wheels, drums, logs, pyramids, squares, cylinders and tiny rounds. At first glance, the shape of a cheese can seem mostly decorative — something created by tradition or simply to make one cheese look different from another. But cheese shapes are rarely accidental. The size and shape of a cheese can influence how quickly it loses moisture, how its r …

If you've ever visited a cheese ageing cellar, one of the first things you may notice is that the cheeses don't simply sit untouched on a shelf. They are turned. Again and again. Sometimes every day. Sometimes less often. Sometimes by hand, sometimes with the help of specialised equipment. It sounds like a tiny part of the process, but turning can influence how evenly a cheese matures, how moistu …

                                        White, blue, grey, orange… sometimes even slightly furry. If you opened your fridge and found some of those colours growing on most foods, you would probably be concerned. Cheese is different. For many traditional cheeses, the microorganisms growing on …

Ever picked up a cheese with a sticky orange rind and a rather powerful aroma? Chances are, it has been washed. Washed-rind cheeses are some of the most distinctive cheeses on the counter. Their rinds can range from pale gold to deep orange, their aroma can be surprisingly intense, and yet the cheese underneath can be far gentler than the smell suggests. So why are they washed in the first place? …