The Reason You Shouldn't Store Cheese In The Refrigerator Door

Cheese is one of the greatest inventions in the history of anything and everything anywhere in the universe, ever. Humans beings may be responsible for quite a bit of pain and suffering, but when you take a bite of a really smooth brie, or a get a whiff of a beautifully smoked gouda, or watch stoically as the waiter continues to grate way too much parmesan onto your pasta, waiting desperately for you to give them the signal (that is never coming) to stop, you realize that human ingenuity can actually be pretty grate (pun intended).

Refrigerators are also (perhaps a bit more genuinely) a marvel of human innovation, and when you bring together these two titans of human invention, what do you get? Some grave possible mistakes. Just throwing your cheese into the fridge door compartments may be convenient, but there are some things to keep in mind to ensure your cheese stays nice and fresh during storage.

Cheese, as a dairy product, requires steady, cool, and dry environments to keep, per The Cheese Grotto, and your fridge door is no such environment. The fridge door is typically opened constantly throughout the day and is therefore the most subject to humidity and temperature changes, which are not great conditions for your cheese.

Instead of the refrigerator door, take an additional couple seconds to inspect your fridge and find a nice cool drawer corner to store your cheese. According to the USDA, many refrigerators have special drawers and compartments that are designed for optimal storage of different types of ingredients, one of which is cheese.

Different cheeses require slightly different storage methods, but all require cool, steady temperatures. Cheeses are very good at absorbing odors so make sure that your fridge is clean and that the drawer you're putting your cheese into is devoid of particularly pungent odors, per Food & Wine. It's also possible to freeze your cheese if you'd like to preserve it long term, just make sure to seal it properly so it doesn't absorb the freezer odors and to thaw it carefully in the fridge before cooking with or serving. There really are a whole host of ways that fridges and cheese can work together in harmony, just so long as you make sure the fridge door doesn't hit your cheese on the way in or the way out.