Before I tell you how to wax cheese, let me tell you why. Waxing cuts down on mold and putrefying bacteria’s access to cheese while it ages, and it also prevents cheese from drying out too much. Both good things.
But to be honest, I put off learning how to wax cheese as long as I could simply because I didn’t want to use wax. And until we had a cow, we could keep up with the cheeses I made from our goat’s milk — so no need to wax or put up cheese for off-season.
Fast forward to now. Getting 4 to 5 gallons of milk a day means I make alot of cheese. One-third of my fridge is filled with aging wheels and quarter-wheels of mostly cheddar (our favorite). To prevent molding and/or drying out, I could move them to the freezer, but that presents three problems: 1) The freezer is pretty full already; 2) The cheeses won’t age or develop flavor in a frozen state; and 3) I’d like to learn methods that don’t rely on refrigeration or freezing at all.
So… learn to wax, I must. And I did! My good friend Jerri from Homesteader Supply coached me for my first waxing. Over the telephone, she gave me her best tips (the dipping method, below). I even turned on the video camera and captured that first time waxing on film.
eCourse members, see bonus lesson 16 in the Cultured Dairy and Basic Cheese eCourse for the bonus video and print tutorial!
I have waxed cheese more than a few times now — and I love it. I think the cheese turns out so pretty. And the waxing works! My four-week old+ cheddar cheese, staying moist and mold-free, is out of this world!
Method: How To Wax Cheese
How to Wax Cheese
Ingredients
- cheese with a dry rind* -- either a complete wheel or cut into quarters
- cheese wax **
- cheese brush a natural bristle brush, if using the brush method
Instructions
How To Wax Cheese: The Dipping Method
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Melt wax in a double boiler so that it is not directly over the heat source.
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Do not leave unattended; wax explodes at high temperatures.
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Choose a container for the wax that will fit your desired sizes of cheese.
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An old coffee can is an ideal size if cutting the cheese wheel into quarters.
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Grasping one corner of the cheese with your hands (careful!) or the tongs, dip the rest of the cheese into the wax.
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One thin coat is better than a thick coat.
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Hold in the air for 10 seconds or so for the wax to harden.
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Set down on wax paper.
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Repeat for other pieces of cheese.
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Be sure to fill up any air spaces to prevent mold growth.
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Grasp the original piece of cheese and dip the unwaxed end.
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One thin coat is better than a thick coat.
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Hold in the air for 10 seconds or so for the wax to harden.
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Set down on wax paper.
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Repeat for other pieces of cheese.
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Repeat both steps to add a second coat of wax to all pieces of cheese.
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Label cheese with type and date.
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Use masking tape or a piece of paper.
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The piece of paper can brushed into place with a thin coating of wax with a wax brush.
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Store cheese in a cool location (such as refrigerator or cold cellafor the duration of the aging and storage.
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To eat cheese, peel off wax.
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Save it and strain it through cheesecloth to reuse over and over again.
How To Wax Cheese: The Brushing Method
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Melt wax in a double boiler so that it is not directly over the heat source.
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Do not leave unattended; wax explodes at high temperatures.
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Brush two coats of wax onto the cheese, filling any holes to prevent air gaps. Robin (TCS membeshared her method with me: brush wax all the way around the rounded side of the wheel, then brush the flat top, then brush the flat bottom.
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Allow for drying times in between.
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Then repeat over all.
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Finally, brush on a paper label (containing type of cheese and datwith a thin application of wax.
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Store cheese in a cool location (such as refrigerator or cold cellafor the duration of the aging and storage.
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To eat cheese, peel off wax.
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Save it and strain it through cheesecloth to reuse over and over again.
Recipe Notes
*Ideally, allow cheese to form a dry, yellowish rind by being left uncovered and on a rack in cool storage for a few weeks. I do this overnight in my kitchen, on cooler nights.
**Buy from Cultures for Health or Homesteader Supply. According to Cultures for Health, 1 pound of wax will do 12 to 20 cheeses if brushing on, but you’ll need to start with a few pounds of wax for dipping to ensure sufficient depth. Store wax in cool place, away from any high heat. Keeps indefinitely.
Do you know how to wax cheese Do you prefer dipping, brushing, or… ? Any tips to share?
Traditional Cooking School members — remember, you can log in and watch the video on waxing cheese, a bonus lesson in the Cultured Dairy & Basic Cheese eCourse!
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Thanks for the instructions! I read you can use parafin wax. Do you have any comments about that?
Marg — Paraffin wax is harder and tends to crack; cheese wax is more flexible. I wouldn’t recommend paraffin wax. It is more expensive to buy cheese wax but as you can use it again and again and again, I’d consider it a good investment. 🙂
Cheese wax IS paraffin wax. But it is prepared as a food quality product.
The red stuff we bought labeled “paraffin” is white and rather brittle; the red “cheese wax” is much softer, more flexible, and a bit tacky. The latter may well be made from paraffin, but there’s more to it than just paraffin. I’ve only waxed a couple cheeses, but I can’t imagine trying it with regular paraffin. I think it would be nightmarish trying to get it to stick well and not flake off. But I admit I haven’t tried.
Super cool! I am so impressed (and jealous) of all this cheese!
Thanks, Belinda! Frankly, I’m still having trouble believing that we’re in milk. 😉 I wish I could share. 🙂
It says the cheese wax is a mix of parafin and microcrystaline wax, both highly unnatural, why can’t I use beeswax. There must have once been a more natural way.
Tracy — You’re right, it is not the most natural solution. If you find something better, please let me know! At the moment I’m faced with losing quantities of cheese to mold or using wax. I held off on wax for a long time because of this very thing.
I have talked with Jerri at Homesteader Supply about using olive oil in place of wax. You brush it on each day. She’s trying it out as an alternative to wax. I haven’t been able to put that to the test because I don’t have a good place to put the cheese with airflow and not stacked up on top of each other as they are now in my fridge.
New England Cheesemaker’s Supply has cheese beeswax.
http://www.cheesemaking.com/BeeswaxOnePound.html
I think that your cheese looks simply stunning in the red wax! So beautiful!
Hopefully, I will someday have your problem of too much cheese! 🙂
A friend and I just waxed cheese for the first time, to do a photo essay for our local sustainability group, Essential Stuff Project in Bigfork MT (essentialstuff.org).
We used beeswax because it is more sustainable than paraffin or cheesewax (which contains paraffin), and also less toxic than paraffin, which is made from petroleum. Beeswax is more expensive but if you have bees, you can collect your own! You can also reuse beeswax by melting it down and straining it through buttermuslin or fine cheesecloth.
We didn’t color our wax; beeswax is a beautiful light gold color on the cheese.
We also melted our wax in a pie pan in the oven. This worked great. You can view our photo essay at http://essentialstuff.org/index.php/2011/06/06/Cat/cheese-making-waxing-the-round/.
Catherine — Thank you for sharing your info on using beeswax! 🙂 I am definitely going to try it. The photo essay is great. I downloaded the PDF for future reference. Thanks!
I just used 1lb of beeswax so I can buy cheese in bulk for long term storage. Here’s my story; I waxed my colby cheese in the beeswax using the dipping method. The cheese has been aged in a linen closet since we live in San Diego and don’t have a cellar. It was the coolest place in the house. Today I tried my first block and to my dissmay the cheese tasted like the wax! The flavor of the wax was very overpowering and has ruined my efforts. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. My friend suggested it could have been due to my cheese was warm (a hot day) and sweating.
I was having such fun and looking forward to making it a tradition!
Thanks so much for the inspiration!!
Karen
P.S. I have now ordered the red wax from New England Cheesemaker Supply.
Catherine, this is a great article and I have pinned it to my Pinterest so that I can refer back to it later. Thank you!
does the beeswax leave a taste on the cheese? I am also concerned about the un-naturalness (is that a word?) of cheese wax but have not found a better alternative yet.
Hi Nancy,
Yes, I think there is a bit of a taste (very, very slight!), but you can trim the edges of the cheese to remove it.
~Danielle, TCS Customer Success Team
What an interesting post. I have never made my own cheese, but yours looks just beautiful! I often buy cheese from independent producers and it is usually waxed – it really does make a difference to how well it keeps.
I use the dipping method. I rub the outside of the cheese with raw apple cider vinegar first (to discourage mold) and then proceed just like you described. It does a very good job. I have one cheese left from last year that we are eating, and just made my first batch for this year yesterday. The one we are eating was made in September and in spite of the waxing, had considerable mold growing under the wax. I trimmed all of that off and the cheese is delicious! It tastes a bit like blue cheese.
Yolanda — Oh, good idea to use the ACV prior to the wax. I am so glad to hear that your cheese does so well waxed for that length of time.
Wardee,
This is so inspiring! It’s “on my list”. 🙂 A couple questions for you:
Do you know if their is something special about “cheese wax”? Do you know what it is made of and if Bee’s wax works? Have you shared your Cheddar recipe yet? 🙂
Blessings, pamela
Oops…next time I will read the other comments before I ask a question. 🙂 I think the questions were answered above (what an amazing group of ladies!). Except of course – I am still fishing for your Chaddar recipe. 🙂
Pamela — Here you go! https://traditionalcookingschool.com/2010/09/22/homemade-raw-cheddar-cheese/
YES! Thanks so much! 🙂
Great post, Wardee and your cheeses are gorgeous! I’ve held of on waxing as well and have been shrink wrapping instead. That’s not a sustainable solution though – I love the idea of using beeswax as we are getting bees next spring. And goats. For now I’m living vicariously through you. I can’t believe you have a cow now!
xo, Annette
I have done both the brushing and the dipping. The dipping worked best for me, but I was dipping 4 lbs. rounds of cheese. As summer comes around and the humidity goes up, the cheese wax (first side dipped) gets a bit slippery. After making several messes by splashing wax, I tried something different. I bought mini paint rollers. I roll the cheese in several thin layers on the flat sides. I then stick the rounded edge in the pot and twirl. This has worked well for me.
I am still trying to figure out a good “cheese cave” for my cheeses. They say that a very humid area about 50° is the best. I do have a small fridge I use for eggs that I was using. I put a bowl of water in the bottom. However, it was not much use for anything else because of the higher temperature and I ended up with so much cheese, I had no more room for eggs. Our cow has been dry since before Christmas. We are on one round of cheese and have 2 more left. 🙂
Are you familiar with water glassing eggs? There’s no reason to keep farm fresh eggs in the fridge. Using water glass and they will last a year without Refrigeration.
Very informative. Great way to store cheeses! I’ll definitely give your method a try. Thanks!
Why can’t you use an electric deep cooker to heat the wax? If you have one with temp control that would seem to be much easier and safer than the double boiler method. Trying to keep the wax at the right temp using the old method and a thermometer can be like juggling to many balls in the air. Wax can explode or burst into flames if it gets too hot so why not use a temp controlled electric cooker? Maybe I am missing something but this seems to be a great way. You can buy the smaller cookers cheap these days and you could just let the wax cool, cover the cooker and store for next time. If there is a reason this should not be done please let me know. Thanks
Kathy — I think that would be fine, provided you had an extra one to devote to it permanently. But really, the double boiler method is not hard. You get it up to temp, take it off the heat and can use the wax for a good while before it is too cool to work well. Heat up a bit more and repeat.
Using a smaller crock pot sounds like a good way to melt the cheese wax. You can find them used on craig’s list at a very reasonable price. I read online that a small wine cooling refrigerator makes a good cheese cave because you can adjust the temperature for it easily. Those can be found on craig’s list as well. I haven’t made cheese yet but I am getting close to being able to buy a press and supplies to do it. I can hardly wait! I really appreciate learning from everyone. I am blessed to have acess to good raw cow and goat milk and am anxious to get some first hand experience.
I have just made my first cheddar and am about to wax. I cut mine into quarters like yours, but they now have lots of cracks in them after drying… is it okay to wax with the cracks. I’ll wipe it all down with vinegar first so prevent mold, but I just worry about the cracks. I suppose I should make sure the cracks fill with the wax so that it’s all more “airtight”? I’ve also made a small parmesan, but can’t get my humidity up enough to age, so I’ve read that you can wax the parmesan if it’s under 2 lb…. Any advice on both issues would be happily accepted!
Fill in the cracks with wax, yes. Make sure to rinse out the cracks with your vinegar first.
I’m sorry but I don’t know anything about parmesan. 🙁
Hi,
As prices soar on the grocery bill I tend to buy in bulk when an item in the supermarket is on a good offer, as for cheese, I’m a dairy bandit and most of my cooking has cheese ‘or’ cream in them, I’ve been reading up on waxing and would like to start perhaps to save a few pennies, I’ve read that if cheese are waxed it could last 25 years + but I’ve looked in the supermarket at the cheeses that have been waxed and they only have a shelf life the same as vacuum sealed, would you have any idea just out of curiosity what cheese would last this long? Thankyou for all the information above really enjoyed the read and took some information away with me …
has any one used or have experience with cream wax from US
I was so excited when I read that you got your cheese wax from your good friend Jerri at Homesteaders Supply that I jumped straight down here to comment! I will be getting some cheese wax from her tomorrow and she lives very close to me so I’m going there in person!!! I will tell her I read this article.
I just made almond cheese because we cannot have dairy and it is a very soft and creamy cheese. I would love to be able to wax them though because I also want to know how to preserve food long term and without refrigeration.
Do you have any suggestions for me on how to coat really soft cheese with wax? Maybe I should freeze it first then coat it?
Thank you for your information. Now, I will go back and finish reading everything else you and others have written!
from everything I have read, and I have been waxing cheese for years, is that you should only wax hard and some select semi-hard cheeses. It has to do with moisture content within the cheese
I used cheese wax last summer when I made my first cheese. My problem was that I could taste the petroleum. YUK! This year, I’m going to try lard and cheese cloth to wrap my cheese.
I love your posts. 🙂 my question is–Can you wax store bought cheeses? Usually I can find them on sale here and there. If you “can” wax them–how long will store bought cheeses they last after waxing and in the fridge ? Or do they have too many preservatives in them already to even try it?
I successfully wax cheddar cheese blocks from Sam’s club. I have used it 6 months later and it is still great although it does become more sharp with aging, so buy mild. My cheese normally doesn’t last me longer than that before it is used up
I waxed my first try at a full cheddar about 3 weeks ago and now awaiting it’s aging to find out how it tastes. I made farmhouse cheddar yesterday and will wax it this evening and test in about a month. In between time, we have tried the Queso Fresco and so far it’s a hit…low aging, no waxing…a good “go to” cheese in our opinion! Even the picky eaters in the extended family liked it! My daughter had an extra small crock pot bowl she gave me that I use in a pan of water to melt the wax, then I just put the lid on and store the wax right in the same pot for the next round.
Good idea… when my crock pot died I bought another one identical to it at the thrift store for $4. It is still going strong and I have an extra bowl in case one bowl breaks. This is a good idea. Now to find fresh milk in this area.
Would this method work for store bought mild cheddar cheese? Everything I’ve read here is about homemade cheese…
Joey – Yes, I believe it does. 🙂
You say you can quarter you cheese for a better size for dipping. Should I do this before while it is developing a rind so as to develope a rind on the cut sides too?
As far as the vinegar is concerned, should that be done ahead of time and let the cheese dry back off? Seems that any moisture no matter what it is would contribute to molding under the wax. Have made 2- 2 lb. batches of goatmilk colby, neither of which survived long enough to wax. I cant do cow dairy and it is so good to be able to have cheese again.
Love the post. I tried waxing my cheese with a Bees wax and coconut oil mix. It worked well and aged well, but the cheese has taken on the honey flavour. My husband is enjoying it but I’m not so keen. I’m interested in how you stored your cheese in the fridge before you began waxing. How did you wrap it to stop it drying out, and did you need to age it longer due to the lower temp?
I am on a hill and can’t have a milk cow. Darn! I do hope to have honey bees. Why does bee wax make cheese taste like honey? It sounds like the wax wasn’t cleaned properly. If you lay the wax near the hive, the bees will remove the honey for you, they are very thorough. I made cheese one time, loved it. I think the long term storage might have been in a spring
house… cool and moist for dairy. I have a
root cellar, almost as good… maybe a large cooler with a little extra moisture inside the root cellar. You are rich indeed to have milk and be able to make your own cheese!
Oh how rich is your knowledge, you answered each and every question of mine as soon as they arose. Thank you so much for sharing it all, I am learning so much – and I need to as we are selling a few products from our milk, and hard cheeses are next on my list, especially Cheshire… I have bees, so am going to follow all this advice, and find out a bit more!
Hello, I found your post online after trying to see what to do with all my homemade goat cheese. I have about 20-30 wheels of cheese in the refrigerator. I live in the pacific northwest- which is the land of molds and mildew!!!! Anyways, I tried all different ways to keep the cheese clean, using salt brine, apple cider vinegar, olive oil-it is so humid here that all eventually grew molds. Then I started to dry them in a few days and dip wax them-I first refrigerated them to get good and cool before waxing. I have a crockpot that I use to keep the wax in and reuse the cheese wax. Even with all this, I still have problems with mold underneath the wax. Since I have so many-thinking of vacuum packing or just put in plastic bags and put in the freezer as is. That way at least the mold would be halted and I could cut off the wax and mold when I take them out to use. I have cut off the mold and used some of the cheese (washed it too), but is a long process to do for all of these wheels. Any ideas to do something different? Onced waxed, I put in refrigerator, but they do end up getting stacked. Also the wax sometimes cracks afterwards. I use waxed paper to separate the cheeses. Have many different kinds that I made-was getting 1 1/2 gallons a day for just me. Thanks for any comments, Joyce
Hi, Joyce.
I’m sorry you’re dealing with mold. We don’t have any additional ideas to reduce mold.
Best wishes.
~Danielle, TCS Customer Success Team