What to Do with Leftover Cheese
Wrap it before you sit down
Most of what you can do for leftover cheese happens before anyone has eaten any. Keep the paper each piece came in. Put it somewhere on the bench rather than in the bin, so it is there when the board comes back in.
Then, when people have finished, wrap each piece separately again. Not one shared container, not everything pressed together on a saucer. Cheese that has sat next to something stronger for a night will taste of it.
The one thing worth being careful about is what touches the cheese last. Avoid using plastic wrap as your final storage layer. Paper first, and if you want a second layer over the top of that, keep it loose.
There is more on this in How to Store & Handle Artisan Cheese, including how we wrap it here before it goes out to you.
How cold, and how long
Back in the fridge, not left on the bench under a tea towel. The Traditional Dutch Gouda pack asks you to keep it refrigerated between +1°C and +5°C. The Danish Havarti pack asks for the same.
Two small habits make that easier. Cut only what you think people will eat, and leave the rest of the block wrapped in the fridge rather than bringing all of it out. And put pieces back between rounds, not at the end of the night when the dishes are being done and nobody wants to think about it.
Keep the printed wrapper with the piece it belongs to. That way the storage instruction stays attached to the cheese instead of going out with the recycling.
The pieces that have dried out
A cut edge that has firmed up is a cooking piece now. Stop trying to serve it.
Grate it. That is the whole trick, and it turns a piece you were about to apologise for into something you can use on a weeknight. Scatter it over pasta off the heat so it melts in the steam. Stir it through eggs in the pan just before they set. Put it inside a toasted sandwich, where a firmer piece behaves better than a soft one. Fold it through savoury scone or muffin dough. Melt it into a white sauce for a gratin, or shower it over roasted vegetables in the last of their time in the oven.
You can also keep a small container in the freezer door and add grated ends to it as they come, then cook straight from there.
If you would rather follow something with amounts and timings written down, the measured versions live on Gouda Cheese Recipes & Pairings.
What is normal, and what is not
Give a piece a look and a smell when you unwrap it, before it goes anywhere near a plate. You are not inspecting it so much as noticing it.
What you are checking for is short and specific. Wet spots, sour smells, ammonia, or black mould. These are signs to discard the product.
That is the line, and it is worth knowing plainly rather than guessing at it over the sink. If a piece shows you any of those, it goes out, and there is nothing to weigh up.
Anything you are unsure about, our care guide is the place to check rather than a half-remembered rule from someone's flat.
Buying so there is less left over
Leftovers are mostly a buying problem. Whole wheels come to us from Europe, and we cut and pack them here in Auckland, which means the pack sizes are set with a household in mind rather than a catering run.
The Traditional Dutch Gouda Cheese retail pack is 280 g. The Danish Havarti Cheese pack is 200 g.
Buy for the people who are actually coming. A smaller board with nothing left at the end beats a big one you are still working through on Wednesday.