What is cloth bound cheese? How do you describe it? And washed rind cheese? What’s your favorite charcuterie cheese?

[On_cloud_wine]

[AI Opinion]

Cloth-bound cheese gets its firm texture and earthy flavors from its aging process. Wrapped tightly in cloth, it matures over several months, developing a rich, nutty taste and a crumbly texture. Washed rind cheese is hand-washed in a brine or alcohol solution, leading to a semi-soft consistency with bold, pungent aromas and a creamy interior. My favorite charcuterie cheese is the Italian Taleggio; its creamy texture and fruity tang make it a joyful addition to any board. 🧀

[purplepoppy]

Cloth bound is simply wrapping a cheese in a cloth before putting it somewhere to nature. Most hard cheese like cheddar are made that way.

As for a charcuterie board I'd put one hard cheese, one medium soft, and one soft cheese on it.

[On_cloud_wine]

Have you heard of Margy clothbound cheddar?

[purplepoppy]

No but I've had a google on their site. Forget the cloth bit, it means little since you'd expect any decent cheddar to be made that way. It just stops the cave spiders crawling over it. Otherwise it looks a good real cheese

[On_cloud_wine]

Haha.. so the clothbound technique is kinda pointless with this cheese.. interesting you know a lot about food

[purplepoppy]

It's not pointless, it protects the cheese and allows it to loose moisture during maturation. But it doesn't add any flavour. Generally with cheddar style cheeses if you avoid the big brands you can't go wrong, there's very few bad small producers.

[On_cloud_wine]

So clothbound is kinda like how they dry age steaks.. only dry aging changes the texture and flavor of a steak

[Nikki1989]

It is where the cheese is wrapped in cloth during the aging process.