"CheeseRinds" news and stories

Cheese rinds: To eat or not to eat?

Tia Keenan, fromager at Manhattan's Casellula Cheese and Wine Café, divides rinds into three categories: manmade (plastic or wax, as on Gouda) that should never be eaten, natural rinds not recommended (due to an unpleasant taste) and natural rinds that should always be eaten. Let's start with the third category -- rinds that should never be treated as fromage trash. Keenan explains that the rinds of bloomy rind cheeses like Camembert, Brie and Brillat-Savarin are a crucial part of their flavor profiles. According to her, choosing not to eat these rinds "is like eating a cake without the frosting or a pie without the crust."

Many food enthusiasts eat all natural rinds (which arise out of the same mold and bacteria that comprise the cheese) because they view them as part of the overall flavor. Sergio Hernandez, cheese expert and the manager of the soon-to-open Brooklyn Larder (an offshoot of the highly-acclaimed Franny's restaurant), states that eating the rinds of a cheese allows him to develop a "sense of memory."

"When I recognize a cheese just by smelling it," Hernandez says, "it is because I remember very specific things that I tasted in that rind." Keenen eats every single natural rind she encounters because they "can add great dimension and flavor to cheeses and are often a work of art."

In short, whether or not you want to eat all natural rind cheeses is a matter of taste, but keep in mind Keenan's words: "We know how hard cheesemakers work to make beautiful bloomy rinds, and it's heartbreaking to see someone dig the cheese out of the rind on a Camembert."

Skimming through my feed reader and getting caught up on posts at The Kitchn, I stumbled upon one heck of a great way to make the most out of your cheese. After you've gotten what you can from your block of Parmesan, take the rind and save it for your next batch of soup or sauce. When it's ready to simmer, throw it in and "The rind will soften and the flavors of the cheese will infuse throughout the dish." Just keep a bag of rinds in the freezer, and pull out as needed. And may I say, I think this could be sinfully wonderful in chili? Yum.

Do you have any other great uses for cheese rinds?