Aging cheese isn't a passive process. To successfully ripen their wheels—and take care of a substantial investment in time and money—cheesemakers spend as much time in their caves as they do in their make rooms. We spoke with 11 dairy professionals from some of our favorite creameries to share what happens in these mysterious aging rooms. Hope you packed some moisturizer, because there's a lot of hand-washing.
Wash, rotate, repeat
Our aged cheeses are cared for in their caves every week. Pawlet, our washed rind Italian toma, is hand-washed twice a week for most of its aging. The washing solution helps the cheese develop and build up that gorgeous orange rind it's so known for. Rupert is also washed, but less often, and it may go through stretches where it's just turned. Our caves stay pretty consistently around 50 degrees, and we put a lot of effort into keeping the humidity where we want it; Rupert likes a drier cave than Pawlet does.
Depending on the week, we may be very carefully washing the cave floor, swabbing for environmental testing, or grabbing a random sample for finished product testing. All of this, of course, with a soundtrack—you've got to have music in the cave! – Kate Leach, Woodlawn Creamery
Experimental spot-checks
A week in our caves has us touching every piece either to turn, wash, or package it. We spend 12 to 15 hours per week just tending to the cellars. This includes working with cheese and cleaning.
We only run six cheese varieties through our cellars and the process is fairly dialed in after all the years. Most often our experimental stuff is what goes off because the process is not dialed in yet. We can learn from our mistakes by determining if it was an issue during making or a cellar mistake. Almost all cellar mistakes are caused by something we introduced by touch or a mechanical failure within the control system. – Chris Roelli, Roelli Cheese Haus
Managing multiple microclimates
We have four different aging room environments. One is all the cheeses that are vacuum-sealed and aging for 12 months. Then there's our "White Room" and "Blue Room." In the White Room there might be 4,000 little soft ripened cheeses, and each one is getting flipped every day by hand. In the Blue Room our blue-aged wheels are getting punched, washed, and salted. We've also got a Washed Rind Room where the young cheeses are getting dipped and the older cheeses are getting washed and brushed, all by hand. Since we make so many types of cheeses, there are always multiple processes going on! – Dan Porter, FireFly Farms
Keeping it simple
Block cheddar isn't sexy. So much of our aging occurs in an oxygen-deprived environment. Once the cheese comes off the press we bag it up, vacuum-seal it, and put it into a box. We’ll check on it periodically, but otherwise it’s set it and forget it. – Tom Perry, Shelburne Farms
Ritualistic rhythms
A week in our caves is a rhythm of care, patience, and constant attention. We turn our Brie and Camembert continually, rotating each wheel so it ripens evenly and develops that perfect delicate bloom. Our hard cheeses get a daily turn as well, along with close inspection to catch any unwanted mold before it takes hold.
We wash our award-winning Gisele with its signature spiced cider wash, a ritual that builds its unmistakable aroma and rind. Our award-winning tomme-style Eleven Brothers receives its own culture-enhanced wash, encouraging the complex flavors that make it so special. And our Greek-style Feta is checked and rotated in its brine bath, ensuring it ages properly and maintains its bright, tangy character.
Our caves are living environments, and we monitor them every single day to keep each room at the precise temperature and humidity that our cheeses need to mature at their best. If a cave becomes too humid, we run a dehumidifier until it settles back into the ideal range for proper aging. If the air grows too dry, we adjust in the opposite direction, restoring the moisture that keeps our rinds healthy and our textures developing just right. This constant attention is not optional—it’s a core part of our craft. The caves shape the cheese as much as we do, and maintaining them with intention is one of the most important factors in producing the flavors and textures we’re known for. – Anne Doe, Boston Post Dairy
Where patience pays off
Our aging rooms are where patience becomes flavor. Each week we turn the wheels, monitor the rinds, wipe the wheels, and carefully regulate temperature and humidity so the cheese matures slowly and evenly. Aging gouda requires consistency and attention—even small changes in the environment can influence texture and flavor. Every wheel is observed as it develops, because each one slowly builds its own character. – Marieke Penterman, Hollands Family Cheese
Encouraging good molds
We have a cave climate control system that helps maintain consistent humidity, temperature, and ventilation throughout the year. We have five cave-aged cheeses. While each has its own journey from start to finish, the common goal once in the caves is managing mold growth. Shepsog, our cow/sheep mixed-milk cheddar, starts out on carts inside the cave and is sprayed with a water and penicillin mixture to encourage mold growth directly on the cheese. This process is repeated two times a week for three weeks, flipping the cheese to ensure even mold distribution.
The wheels are left on the cart for another five weeks, getting flipped twice a week. Once on the shelves, wheels are flipped and brushed, every two weeks for six to seven months. Brushing is used to manage the growth of the mold, now that it has been evenly distributed on the wheels. Sensory evaluation of the cheese occurs every three months, with the target flavor/texture profile occurring from about seven months on. – Meg Gonazalez, Grafton Village Cheese Co.
Checking in with old friends
Our cellar week begins with a cellar walk to check in: how does the humidity feel? Is there enough spacing between batches? Is the smell right? During the season, we'll have new cheeses coming in all the time, and those need the most attention, getting washed two to three times a week to get a good rind established. While we know roughly when that will happen, there's always a batch that's moving fast and needs to be dropped to fewer weekly washings, or a batch that needs to stay on the heavy rotation for an extra week. It's a busy place, but we love it! – Kat Feete, Meadow Creek Dairy
Gathering good feedback
Cheese ripening is a slow and steady meditation of attentive patience. Our concrete cellars are nestled into a hillside beneath the frostline to keep a stable, cool, temperature all year. A full cave, regularly hosed down for cleaning, stays quite humid, but we can make slight environmental adjustments to optimize each space for a specific cheese style. Before we set about the weekly tasks of brushing, turning, washing, and tasting, we do a little check-up on batch stats—the balance of moisture, protein, fat, pH, and salt are all key data points and important pieces of feedback for our cheesemakers so that they can keep consistency on track as milk and cultures shift seasonally. – Zoe Brickley, Jasper Hill Farm
Keeping it cool
Our cheese cave is a cool, dark, and damp space. We monitor temperature and humidity daily. We brush and turn the wheels depending on their age and needs. Our Marigold cheese gets a weekly annatto whey wash for the 1st month. We test our brine tanks for pH and salt saturation for every cheese make, and we wash the floor to maintain humidity. – Kerry Gewalt, Cobb Hill Cheese
Thanks to all the cheesemakers that participated in this roundtable! Learn more about all of them in our Farm Focus profiles, and shop our bestselling artisan cheeses here.
Photos courtesy of: Spring Brook Farm, FireFly Farms, Hollands Family Cheese, and Jasper Hill Farm.
