News and Views

There was a cheese factory in Cuba, NY, the town I was born in. I grew up eating this cheese in everything from toasted cheese sandwiches to macaroni and cheese. It is unique and delicious.

Living in Arizona I don’t get much opportunity to eat Cuba cheese any more, but I recently came into acquisition of two and a half pounds of the precious substance.

The problem is that the Cuba Cheese Factory doesn’t use mold inhibitors in their products, and it shows. The cheese will start showing mold in a week or two, and there’s no way I can eat 2.5 pounds of cheese that quickly. Once I cut into the wrapper the clock starts ticking and the mold starts growing.

One solution we have tried in the past is freezing. This does stop the mold, but it renders the cheese crumbly and seems to modify the taste a little. It’s better than mold, but not ideal.

This time we’re trying something new: Wax. I bought some cheese wax, cut the big loaf into quarter-pound pieces and dipped each piece into the melted wax. The heat of the wax is supposed to kill any mold that may have started. I’ll store these pieces in the refrigerator and only cut into each piece as we finish the last one.

It’s the first time I’ve tried this so I can’t be sure how well it will work. Maybe enough spores survived the dipping and when I remove the wax I’ll find huge mold growths. I’ll find out in a few weeks.