Is It Safe To Eat The Rind On Cheddar Cheese?

If you are unfamiliar with a type of cheese, then it can be confusing whether or not you can eat the rind. While the safest option is never to eat the rind unless you are positive that you can, most of the time it will be safe to eat the rind on cheddar cheese unless otherwise noted.  When browsing the cheese options, you will notice that not all cheddars have a rind and it tends to be the sharper cheddars that do have them simply because they have aged longer. Here is what you need to know about eating the rind on cheddar cheese as well as other types.

What Is The Rind?

The first thing you need to know is what the rind is. It is the outer layer of the cheese that sometimes forms during the process of making and aging cheese. Because they are usually completely natural, they are frequently edible, but sometimes the flavor or texture will be undesirable. It is important not to confuse a cheese’s rind with its secondary coating. Some types of hard cheese, such as Gouda will occasionally have an additional coating made of wax, paraffin or something similar. You should never eat this coating although an actual rind should be safe.

Natural Rinds

The rind that you find on cheddar cheese is usually referred to as a natural rind because it forms naturally. To get rinds on some other types of cheeses, the manufacturers will add a certain strain of bacteria or some other edible substance but this is rare for cheddar cheese. In the case of the cheddar, the rind simply forms over time as the outer area of the cheese begins to dry out from the air. Because it is completely natural, there is no risk in eating the rind from cheddar cheese. You should still always double check that it is a rind and not a secondary coating. The only time you should be hesitant about eating the rind is if you are pregnant or have a weakened immune system in which case it is safer to cut it off.

Other Rinds

On some types of cheeses a rind is desirable but would not necessarily begin to grow naturally. Therefore cheese makers will add edible mold or bacteria spores to the cheese during the aging process. The humidity then causes these to grow and create the rind. A bloomy rind is the type you find on brie and is made using edible mold spores but still usually edible. If you are looking at a stinky cheese, chances are that it has a washed rind which means it was covered in alcohol or brine to attract edible molds which then formed the rind.