Cool, Not Cold If cheese must be kept for more than a few days, it’s usually easiest to refrigerate it Unfortunately, the ideal conditions for holding cheese — a humid 55– 60ºF/12–15ºC, simply a continuation of its ripening conditions — is warmer than most refrigerators, and cooler and moister than most rooms Refrigeration essentially puts cheese into suspended animation, so if you want an immature soft cheese to ripen further, you’ll need to keep it warmer Cheeses should never be served direct from the refrigerator At such low temperatures the milk fat is congealed and as hard as refrigerated butter, the protein network unnaturally stiff, the flavor molecules imprisoned, and the cheese will seem rubbery and flavorless Room temperature is best, unless it’s so warm (above about 80ºF/26ºC) that the milk fat will melt and sweat out of the cheese Cheese Crystals Cheeses usually have such a smooth, luscious texture, either from the beginning or as a hard cheese melts in the mouth, that an occasional crunch comes as a surprise In fact a number of cheeses develop hard, salt-like crystals of various kinds The white crystals often visible against the blue mold of a Roquefort, or detectable in the rind of a Camembert, are calcium phosphate, deposited because the Penicillium molds have made the cheese less acid and calcium salts less soluble In aged Cheddar there are often crystals of calcium lactate, formed when ripening bacteria convert the usual form of lactic acid into its less soluble mirror (“D”) image In Parmesan, Gruyère, and aged Gouda, the crystals may be calcium lactate or else tyrosine, an amino acid produced by protein breakdown that has limited solubility in these low-moisture cheeses  ... white crystals often visible against the blue mold of a Roquefort, or detectable in the rind of a Camembert, are calcium phosphate, deposited because the Penicillium molds have made the cheese less acid and calcium salts less soluble... Cheddar there are often crystals of calcium lactate, formed when ripening bacteria convert the usual form of lactic acid into its less soluble mirror (? ??D”) image In Parmesan, Gruyère, and aged... luscious texture, either from the beginning or as a hard cheese melts in the mouth, that an occasional crunch comes as a surprise In fact a number of cheeses develop hard, salt-like crystals of various kinds The