How to Buy Cheese Like a Pro: Tips from Cheesemonger Anne Saxelby

Anne Saxelby knows a thing or two about matching people with cheeses. As one-half of the ownership of New York City’s first all-American cheese shop, Saxelby Cheesemongers, and author of the forthcoming guide, The New Rules of Cheese, she is accustomed to playing an important role in helping people navigate what can seem like thousands of unfamiliar selections.

“I’m always playing cheese detective,” says Saxelby. She describes a process of starting with basic questions to help her customers start narrowing down what might appeal to them: “Hard or soft, strong or mild, do you like goat cheese, do you like blue cheese, etc.”

Even the initiated can sometimes use a cheese detective when it comes to the variety of new cheeses being introduced regularly by American dairies and creameries, or imported from cheesemaking countries worldwide. Saxelby offers these 8 tips for buying cheese like a pro, regardless of your previous level of cheese-buying experience and cheese knowledge. 

1. Choose Your Cheesemonger Wisely

“Buying cheese like a pro first and foremost is finding a reputable cheese shop,” says Saxelby. “Not everyone lives in a place with a specialty cheese shop or farmers market, but these are always the best places because the people who run them are obsessed with cheese and take better care of it.” They also intimately know their products and can help you understand the nuances of what you’re buying.

Even some specialty markets or grocery stores may have a cheese counter with a good program: “If you’re able to go to a cut to order cheese counter if they’re cutting wedges from individual wheels that’s a really good sign,” says Saxelby. Just because wedges are already cut doesn’t mean you can’t ask for a fresh one, so you don’t end up with something stale that’s been sitting in plastic wrap for “god knows how long.”

If there’s no specialty retailer in your area, however, all is not lost. Saxelby recommends “tried and true cheeses that are reliably tasty even at supermarkets: aged Gouda, Parmigiano Reggiano—not parmesan—and manchego.”

2. Don’t Be Intimidated

Naturally, this is easier said than done, but if you’ve found a specialty cheese shop and do feel out of your depth, you are in good company. Saxelby reports that the vast majority of shoppers at Saxelby’s aren’t already pros. 

“More people than not don’t know about cheese, maybe about 75% don’t know very much at all,” she estimates. “Nobody needs to be embarrassed, they’re definitely in the majority.”

“Of course, it can be self-selecting for super nerds who are already into it...” she admits, but the people who already know their way around different producers and styles just make it possible for cheesemongers to spend more time with people who do need guidance.

Ultimately cheesemongers want to sell cheese to you, and they want you to feel good about the experience so that you want to come back and do it again. Think of them as cheese agents, not cheese wardens.

3. Start With What You Know

“You don’t need to know every single cheese, but start with what you like,” offers Saxelby. “If the monger is worth her salt they can take that and guide you in the right direction.”

And be specific—and more importantly, honest—about what you know and like. If that’s “sharp cheddar,” great. If that’s “I’ve been enjoying cider-washed and spruce-bound raw milk selections with a little extra age…” also great. If you’re a cheddar person shopping alongside someone from the latter camp, refer to point 2—don’t be intimidated—above. The spruce-wrapped folk were mere mortals once.

4. Taste and Take Notes

In the current pandemic climate, sampling is made a little more difficult, but presuming it will eventually end, you have every right to ask for a taste of something from a cheesemonger. But treat it like you would an ice cream shop and respect everyone’s time, sellers and fellow shoppers alike. Narrow it down before you start asking for tastes of everything behind the counter, or take a recommendation.

“The fun of buying cheese is being able to taste and educate yourself,” says Saxelby. “The only way to educate is to taste as often as you can.” Furthermore, she recommends keeping notes about what you taste in a store or at home. “Memory imprints in your brain,” she says. “Descriptors like ‘sweet butterscotch and crunchy’ stick out more than a label.”

Cheeses have varying ripeness levels as well and are continuing to ripen while they wait to be sold. Once you become better at knowing what levels of ripeness you appreciate in different kinds of cheeses, you can ask your cheesemonger to point you in the right direction, or recommend something whose current ripeness level matches your preference.

5. Be Open to a Cheese Conversion

You should come away with your cheese buying experience with a cheese or variety of cheeses you know you’ll enjoy, but be open to liking something new. Opening people up to new cheeses is part of the fun of being a cheesemonger.

“I feel like in each category there’s a gateway cheese,” Saxelby explains. “I know which ones those are in my selection. On a scale of 1 to 10 in strength, something that might be a 3. It’s not going to offend. You might not like it but it’s easier to try.”

Trying is key toward appreciating a wide variety of flavors. “The more you taste, your palate changes,” she says. “Even when I started I liked basic, mild, super creamy triple crèmes, and over time I’ve evolved to like a whole different variety of stuff, even if it was a little weird at first. There are a million different shades of these flavors. Not all blue cheese tastes like the weird blue cheese dressing you had as a kid.”

6. Ask the Cheesemonger for a Favorite: Flavor or Story

Consider some context from Saxelby’s website: “We aim to know and celebrate the how and why behind each cheese in every season, and share that knowledge with cheese lovers everywhere.”

Cheesemonger favorites change often and can be influenced not only by their well-trained palates, but also the story behind the cheese that you’ll be eating or serving, as they may even have relationships with some of the cheesemakers. Saxelby’s in fact, includes profiles of all of the farms whose cheeses they source on their website. Knowing more of the context of various producers can enhance the cheese buying and cheese eating experience, not to mention enhance your ability to remember it.

Twig Farm photo credit Saxelby Cheese

Saxelby’s current favorite? “I’m very partial to Twig Farm in Vermont. A raw goat’s milk cheese called Goat Tomme. The rinds are really nice and add this earthy flavor.” A fun fact about Twig Farm: cheesemaker Michael Lee was literally separated from his goat herd. While the cheesemaking operation takes place at his West Cornwall, Vermont, farm, his herd of 50 goats is now being fostered at Ice House Farm in Goshen, VT. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that, but perhaps it also makes the cheese grow stronger?

7. Know How Much You Need

“What’s the occasion?” says Saxelby. “Just to have stuff in your fridge to snack on, or for a specific recipe to cook with, or for a dinner party? How much will you eat in a week to two week time span?”

Having a sense of what you need in terms of how much cheese total and how many varieties will help direct your cheese shopping experience, and can help your cheesemonger make recommendations.

For a dinner party with a cheese course or a grazable cheese plate, Saxelby recommends 3 to 5 varieties, estimating about 2 to 3 ounces of cheese total for each person attending. “That gives you an opportunity to get a nice variety of styles, flavors, and milk types. You don’t need tons.”

8. Take Good Care of Your Cheese

The final step in buying cheese like a pro is what you do with it when you get it home.

“Hopefully they wrapped it in cheese paper for you,” says Saxelby. “It’s designed to let the cheese breathe. If you don’t have cheese paper, you can use parchment paper or even aluminum foil. Plastic wrap will make it taste plasticy, and the extra air in plastic bags can make your cheese go stale.”

However, there’s little need to throw away any cheeses, even if they’ve been hiding in the nether regions of your fridge. “Cheese doesn’t go bad. It’s already fermented milk,” says Saxelby. “It’s on its life trajectory.”

Of course, consuming it in a shorter time period will help it taste better or fresher, but most cheeses can be resurrected with a little carving.

Anne Saxelby’s The New Rules of Cheese comes out October 20th, Ten Speed Press.