Alan Davidson

Maturing the Cheese

Appears in
Oxford Companion to Food
Oxford Companion to Food

By Alan Davidson

Published 2014

  • About
The final step is to mature the cheese. Times and conditions for this process vary greatly. Dry surroundings are necessary for cheeses which are to be hardened; a moist environment suits soft cheeses and promotes the growth of surface organisms (see below). Warmth speeds ripening. The longer-matured cheeses are generally kept cool. There may be successive stages of maturing in different conditions.

Two important classes of cheese are ripened largely by moulds, yeasts, and bacteria which invade them from the surface, and attention must be paid to the surface of each cheese to ensure that the desired species of microorganisms grow on the surface and to the right extent. The curing rooms, called ‘cellars’, for traditionally made cheeses are, usually, naturally infected with the required organisms.