We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about how the most common place to put your olive oil might also be the worst (guilty as charged).
But what about cheese?
Though we know that some cheeses can handle a bit of mould better than others, ideally our beloved fromage should be kept safely enough to prevent the spores from forming in the first place.
And while most of us know to keep most cheese in the fridge, it turns out one part of the cooling cuboid is far worse for your cheddar than the rest.
What’s the worst spot?
According to Better Homes & Gardens (who spoke to cheese experts at Wisconsin Cheese and Tillamook), storing your cheese at the front of your fridge shelves or in the fridge door (my go-to ricotta repository) is a no-no.
That’s because the temperature will fluctuate ― however slightly ― when you open and shut the fridge door, and the closer your cheese is to the entrance of the cooler, the more likely it is to be affected by those changes.
“All wrapped cheeses can be stored together in the cheese drawer or vegetable crisper, where the temperature is more stable and humidity is higher,” Madeline Kuhn, an expert from Roth Cheese, told the publication.
She added that while the crisper (vegetable) drawer is a good option, you might want to partition your parm as smellier veggies like onions can affect its flavour.
Huh. Any other advice?
Yes ― pros really, really don’t want you to wrap your cheese in clingfilm.
Patrick Ochs, an executive chef at Pubblica Italiana and Dalia at The Celino Hotel, told Business Insider, “Plastic wrap actually suffocates the cheese causing [it to] lose flavour [and] trap moisture.”
That can make your cheese mould faster and, according to the chef, give your favourite dairy a plastic-y flavour too.
By the way, in the same Business Insider article, Adam Brock, the director of food safety and quality at Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, agreed with Kuhn about storing your cheese in the crisper drawer.
Super-chilled spots (like right by your freezer compartment) may be too cold, he says, while the front of the drawers and back of the door can run a little warm.
Looks like I really, really need to move my mozzarella...