Cheese cave

There are 20 cheeses in the cheese cave at the moment. They are all at different stages of maturity, partly because they were made at different times, and partly because different cheeses take different lengths of time to mature (ranging from 4 days to 2 years).

5 have matured enough to be acceptable to eat, but I am leaving them longer to develop a greater depth of flavour. 

The boxes contain blue cheeses which need to be aired intermittently in order for the blue moulds to grow. The remaining cheeses are vacuum packed until a week before I cut them. That week they spend in the open air and it gives them the opportunity to develop something of a rind, which I love.

Initially I waxed my cheeses, but after working out that wax is made from petrochemicals, can only be reused a couple of times, and can't then be recycled, I switched to vacuum-packing in plastic, which is also made from petrochemicals, can be reused more often, and can then be recycled. 

The blue cheeses which aren't wrapped at all are all the more delicious to me for that reason.

The fridge is plugged into an external thermostat, keeping the temperature inside to within 2 degrees of 13C for optimal cheese maturing.

There endeth your lesson. The exam will be sprung upon you, so I hope you have taken notes.