Cheese is one of the most widely consumed foods across the world, on both a daily and annual basis. No matter what type of cheese you have, whether it be an imported chunk of Gouda or sliced Swiss from your local deli, it’s important to know how to keep cheese fresh and mold-free for as long as possible.

Here are a few ways that you can use to keep the cheese you purchase as fresh as possible for as long as possible.

NEVER USE PLASTIC WRAP to wrap cheese up. While it might be easy and convenient to throw cheese in some plastic wrap, doing such will just suffocate the cheese and prohibit the flavor from immersing from the cheese while adding a plastic-like taste to the cheese which would all but mask the actual flavor of the cheese.

DO NOT WRAP TOO TIGHT, DO NOT WRAP TOO LOOSE as cheese is very sensitive when it comes to its flavor and freshness. Ammonia is a natural odor that is emitted from cheese. When wrapping cheese too tightly, it will eventually take on the smell of this ammonia. When wrapping cheese to loosely, air is able to quickly work its way in and the cheese dries up and becomes hard very quickly.

CHEESE PAPER is the route you want to take to optimize the freshness of cheese. Cheese paper keeps cheese fresh as it is porous and acts as a safety net for the cheese from air while allowing room for the cheese to breathe.

WAX OR PARCHMENT PAPER is a good alternative to cheese paper. Wax or parchment paper serves the same benefit in keeping cheese fresh but only if you wrap cheese in wax paper, then place it in a partially sealed plastic bag. As an alternative measure, you can wrap the wax paper-wrapped cheese in aluminum foil if plastic bags are not your thing.

REPLACE your cheese wrapping agent. Whatever you are using to wrap up your cheese to keep it fresh, replace the paper after every instance in which you unwrap the cheese to ensure the freshest quality of cheese.

SOFT AND FRESH CHEESE go against the grain. When dealing with cheeses that are best aged, it is a best practice to keep these cheese sealed in their original containers. Such cheese include mozzarella, ricotta and chevre.

DATING IT will allow you to monitor the freshness value of your cheese with greater ease. Before putting your cheese in the fridge, add a date on the bag indicating when the cheese was wrapped.

A LITTLE AT A TIME will allow you to get the most freshness out of your cheese-eating experience. If you buy too much at once, it will take longer to consume all of the cheese. In order to maximize the freshness experience of cheese, but in smaller quantities and it will be easier to refrigerate as needed.