Cheese Types

Cheeses can be grouped into various types, styles or families. At Murray's we think of seven types that we find clear and simple to understand:

Fresh | Bloomy | Semisoft | Washed | Firm | Hard | Blue

These types group cheeses that provide a consistent eating experience. Our types will help you find a cheese you like according to the following descriptions:

Fresh
Think: Young. Tart. Tangy. Lemony. Smooth. Moist. Creamy. No rind. Find: Fresh goat cheese ("Chevre), Mozzarella

Bloomy
Refers to the snowy, fluffy, "blooming" rind. Think: White. Buttery. Decadent. Pillowy. Fluffy. Rich. Mild to Mushroomy. Edible rind. Find: Brie, Camembert, Triple-Crèmes (Cremeux de Bourgogne, St. Andre)

Semi-soft
Think: Pliable. Earthy. Wet straw. Hay. Leaves. Melting. Find: Fontina, Garrotxa, Morbier, Tomme de Savoie

Washed
These are washed during aging, in brine (salt water), beer, wine or spirits. Think: Pungent. Stinky. Fruity. Meaty. Intense. Aromatic. Vibrant pink to orange edible rind. Find: Epoisses, Livarot, Pont l'Eveque, Taleggio

Firm
Think: Dense but supple. Grassy. Eggy. Fruited. Sharp. Thick, natural rind not typically eaten. Find: Cheddar, Gruyère, Manchego, Ossau Iraty

Hard
Think: The super-aged big guns. Dry. Crunchy. Caramelly. Butterscotchy. Grainy. Find: Aged Gouda, Dry Jack, Parmigiano-Reggiano

Blue
Think: Mold! Veins. Craters. Big. Sharp-edged. Punchy. Complex. Find: Gorgonzola, Roquefort, Stilton

How do I Serve Cheese?

Serve all cheeses at room temperature! Remove cheeses from the refrigerator at least an hour before serving. Hard cheeses take longer to reach room temperature. As a rustic peasant food, cheese displays well on wood or marble or stone boards, surrounded by fruits (simplest - a bunch of grapes), nuts, crusty bread and wine. Try to avoid cubing or slicing in advance, and put out one cheese knife or cheese plane per cheese. For a big crowd, where self-service is key, you may pre-slice or cube, but the cheese will dry out quickly and, as a display technique, it's fairly cheesy. If you must precut cheese, use a covered cheese dome.

Cheese Boards/Cheese Course

Some basic things to consider when serving a cheese course:

1. As hors d'oeurves, avoid sweet triple cremes (which are more for dessert), blues (too strong), or very aged cheese (also too strong). Stick to bloomy rinds, medium washed rinds or semi-softs.
2. Three to five cheeses are enough for any course. Less is more in this case.
3. After dinner cheeses would typically start with a fresh cheese (e.g., chevre) or bloomy rind (e.g., camembert); then a semi-soft or medium cheese (e.g., Morbier or Cheddar); then a harder cheese (e.g., an aged Gouda); finally a blue (e.g., Roquefort).
4. A cheese plate is arranged in clockwise fashion with the first cheese at midnight on the plate.
5. It's a good idea to vary the milk types, too: goat, sheep and cow.
6. Don't be afraid to experiment. Start with what you like first and work around it.
7. Need help? Contact us! (1-888-692-433)

How Do I Store Cheese?

Our number one recommendation is to buy smaller pieces of cheese more often, because a reputable cheesemonger is better equipped to store cheese. That said, here are our guidelines for home storage:

Most references will tell you never, never, never wrap your cheese in plastic wrap. And with good reason. If you're like us, you buy a bunch of cheese, put it in your fridge, and forget about it for two weeks. By then, the cheese has been tightly wrapped, never seeing the light of day, never getting any fresh air, and it has died of suffocation. Seriously. Cheese is a living food. It needs to breathe. The rind on bloomy and washed cheese cannot survive without oxygen. The exposed surface of Parmigiano-Reggiano, for example, will get sweaty and then dry out without fresh air.

But for most people at home, what are your choices?

We say: Be realistic. Wrap first in wax paper to protect the surface flavor of a cheese, and then in plastic wrap to ensure it can't dry out. Promise not to forget about the cheese. Change its wrapping every couple for days, which also gives an excuse to nab a small bite.

Use foil for higher moisture blue cheeses.

The vegetable drawer is slightly warmer and moister than the rest of the fridge, and so provides a less hostile environment. Plus, it prevents cross-contamination of flavor and aroma with other food in your fridge.

Special cheese cellars and refrigerators are a hot trend right now, but we've had respectable success "aging" cheese the old fashioned way. Take a Tupperware container, line it with a damp paper towel, and poke holes in the lid for air. It's the perfect abode for a cheese that's not quite ripe.

What Else Can I Serve with Cheese?

Almonds help bring out the subtleties of cheese flavor and aroma. Toasted hazelnuts and walnuts interchangeably work with cheese, and pecans go well with sweet or unctous cheeses.

Olives naturally complement sheep and goat's milk cheese.

Experiment with dried fruits like raisins, figs, dates, and any number of berries.

Chutneys are a tasty alternative that meld nicely with the texture and nuances of English farmhouse cheeses. Chutney with Cheddar is simply delicious. French chevre with its stark white moist, flaky or crumbly paste is a choice for chutney, also perfect with juicy plums.

Fruit pastes, such as membrillo made of quince, with slices of an array of semi-hard sheep's milk cheeses from Spain, French Pyrenees, Sardinia, and delicate flavored cow's milk cheeses like Caerphilly, are sure to bring delight.

The sweetest seasonal fruits are the ones to choose. Try blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, and whatever other ripe and bursting with flavor fresh fruits are available. Apples with Cheddar and pears with Stilton always bring pleasure

Charcuterie: Serve thin slices of proscuitto, Serrano ham and sweet or spicy salamis, especially with aged cheeses like Pecorino and Manchego. If you choose to serve crackers, pick unsalted ones, but bread is a must; you can never go wrong with a baguette. Crusty rustic sourdough with creamy soft ripened creations, and grain-packed hearty selections with Cheddars and the like, or perhaps specialty breads with bits of dried fruit and nuts, or olives baked in.

Murray's Frequently Asked Questions on Cheese

In 68 years of cheese, we've heard it all. Here are the most frequently asked questions and their answers!

Q: This cheese stinks!  What's with that?
A: We've been known to clear a subway car with a bag of cheese cut 15 minutes ago. Cheese wrapped in a bag or box can smell pretty intense, but that's no cause for concern. Just get it into the fridge and remember to give it an hour at room temperature before serving.

Q: How do I store cheese?
A: A few tips: 1) When possible, reuse the Murray's cheese paper your cheese arrived in. It protects but allows breathability. 2) Buy more Murray's cheese paper! Seriously. It extends shelf life by 5-7 days. 3) Wrap in wax paper or parchment covered in plastic wrap (paper alone and the cheese will dry right out) 4) Plastic wrap is okay for harder cheeses, but rewrap 2-3 times a week 5) Use aluminum foil for blues 6) Try the crisper drawer it's a bit warmer and moister than the rest of the fridge 7) Refrigerate 8) NEVER FREEZE CHEESE

Q: How do I serve the cheese?
A: Always remove your cheese from the fridge at least an hour before serving you'll want it at room temperature. Provide separate knives or serving utensils for each cheese so you don't mix flavors. We like cheese with plain bread or crackers, but you can liven it up with fruit breads and garnishes like dried apricots, Medjool dates, dried cherries or cranberries, nuts, fresh sliced apple or pear, fruit chutney or local honey.

Q: How much cheese do I need?
A: We recommend 1 ounce per person per cheese, assuming a selection of 3-5 cheeses. We find more than 5 gets overwhelming. That means a standard gift selection, with half a pound of five different cheeses will comfortably feed 8 people for noshes, or 4 people for dinner, if you add some wine, bread and a salad!

Q: How long can I keep my cheese?
A: This is real cheese not the stuff in a can. That means you're looking at 3-4 weeks maximum, and that's for the hard cheeses like Gruyere or Parmigiano-Reggiano. Fresh cheeses (bright white, no rind) should be eaten with 7 days of opening. Soft, creamy cheeses like Brie and Taleggio should be eaten within 10-14 days. If you see small dots of surface mold on your hard cheese, it can be scraped off. It won't hurt you, or the flavor of your cheese, and it beats tossing the whole piece out.  Honestly, though.  Why store it when you know you can eat it all in one sitting? Call your friends!!

Q: What is raw milk cheese?
A: Raw milk cheese, aka unpasteurized cheese, refers to cheese made with milk that has not been heat treated by pasteurization.  In the US, pasteurization is required of all cheese sold at less than 60 days of age, the intention being the elimination of potentially harmful pathogens. We play by the rules, so if it's under 60 days it will be pasteurized milk, but over that two-month mark we've got hundreds of raw-milk offerings, many of which boast a deeper and more complex flavor.

Q: What does it mean for a cheese to be in (or out of) season?
A: Animals left to their natural cycles do not make milk all the time. No milk, no cheese. Goats and sheep are particularly finicky breeders, and tend to mate in the fall and stop milking during the winter months. That may mean shortages of younger styles during December-April. As for cows, they can produce milk at any time of year, but the early spring and fall milk, when cows munch on grasses and flowers, is considered the most flavorful and fuels singularly delicious cheese.

Q: Do I eat the rind? How do I know?
A: The short answer is: the rind will never kill you, though we avoid those made of cloth or wax. Ick. The rule we use is, if the rind is a soft, thin skin on the outside of the cheese then we consider it edible. If the rind is a thick, chewy, hard or sharp-edged crust, then we do not. Don't be fooled by color! They are some Day-Glo orange, blue and green rinds that taste magnificent.