The sizes, and who each one is for

Mini wheels. Small whole cheeses - ours are 200g. You get the complete cheese, rind and all, at a size that suits two or three people. They are ideal for a board where you want several whole cheeses rather than cut pieces, and they bake beautifully as they are. Shop them here.

1kg wheels. The middle size, and the one most people mean when they picture a cheeseboard centrepiece. Enough for a gathering without committing to something enormous. Our Perl Wen comes this way.

2.5kg wheels. A large wheel of Perl Las is a genuine centrepiece and the right choice for a party, a big family Christmas, or anywhere you would otherwise buy four separate cheeses. 

How to cut each cheese properly

This depends entirely on the shape, and getting it wrong is the commonest cheeseboard mistake there is:

A round soft cheese - a brie-style wheel like Cenarth Brie or Perl Wen - is cut like a cake. Wedges from the centre out, every time. Never scoop the middle and leave the rind.

A wedge cut from a larger wheel should be cut into smaller wedges along its length, not sliced across the end. Cutting the point off a wedge takes all the best, ripest cheese and leaves the next person the rind. It is the cheese equivalent of taking the corner slice of cake.

A hard cheese truckle is cut into wedges, then into slabs. Use a knife with some weight behind it rather than a blade designed for soft cheese.

Whatever the shape, cut straight down from a cold fridge rather than from room temperature. The cheese is firmer, the cut is cleaner, and you can let it come up to temperature afterwards.

Keeping the rest

Wrap it in greaseproof or waxed paper rather than clingfilm. Cheese is alive and it needs to breathe - sealed in plastic it sweats and the flavour goes flat. Then put the wrapped cheese in the fridge drawer rather than on an open shelf.

A soft wheel that has been cut will carry on ripening, so eat it within a few days of opening. A hard wheel will keep for weeks and is forgiving if you forget about it.

Can you freeze a cheese wheel?

You can, and we would rather you did than threw it away - but it changes the texture. Freezing makes soft cheese grainy when it thaws. It is fine for anything you are going to cook with, but not so good for anything you intend to serve on a board. If you have more than you can eat, cooking is the better answer: a leftover wheel makes a very good fondue.

Baking a whole wheel

The simplest thing to do with a mini wheel, and the most impressive. Score a cross in the top, tuck in a sprig of rosemary, bake at 180°C for around 20 minutes until it is completely soft, and serve it molten with bread and whatever vegetables are in season.

We have a full recipe for a Cenarth Brie sharing board with thyme roasted grapes on the blog.

Or try our baked Golden Cenarth with cheese twists here.

Shop our full range of cheese wheels here.