The Sugar Cube Trick To Help Keep Your Cheese Fresh

Glorious cheese, how do we love you? Let us count the ways. You can be enjoyed in the form of a block, a slice, a cube, and even as a dip. You're perfect as melted cheese on pizza, cheese fondue, and cheese sandwiches, and what charcuterie board is complete without you?

The world has been having a love affair for centuries with cheese. According to the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), cheese has been around for 4,000 years. As the legend goes, an Arabian man used a sheep's stomach to store his milk, and after the milk was in the sun all day, cheese was created, and the man found it delightful. Not a very appetizing history, but we'll take it. And we'll take more cheese, please.

But cheese has one fault: It molds easily. Sure, some types of cheeses actually are molded; But others, unlike blue cheese, which is made with cultures of a mold known as Penicillium, per Healthline, have to be thrown out once they show signs of spoilage.

So how can you keep your cheese fresh for longer?

The Cheese Lover writes that one of the reasons proper cheese storage is so important is because cheese goes bad quickly if it is in an environment that causes it to sweat, creating too much moisture. Store your cheese in a drawer in the refrigerator and wrap it in wax paper if possible, or aluminum foil for blue cheeses. On average, cheese is only good for about three to five days, but with some helpful hints, you may be able to keep it a bit longer. 

Once the cheese is sliced, storage becomes different. Place your cheese in a plastic container with a lid to help keep opened and sliced cheese fresh and to help prevent the refrigerator from smelling kind of gross, The Cheese Lover advises. You can even plop a sugar cube or two in the container to help with freshness.

According to OHbaby, sugar cubes soak up moisture — and that's good news for your cheese. There's a delicate balance between drying out the cheese and protecting it from too much moisture, but an airtight container and a couple of sugar cubes should do the trick.