Good Eats - From the Garden to Your Table.

Phil says: The key to saving money on cheese is immortalized in a line Smokey Robinson learned from his mom and turned into a hit song: "Shop Around."

Once we enter the supermarket, many of us are enamored with the vast and appetizing display of cheeses at the cheese table that is usually set alongside the deli. Here hundreds of varieties are displayed for sale and arranged to tempt us to buy. My advice: run away! Run to the dairy case!

When it comes to the most popular natural cheeses, such as cheddar, Monterey jack, and Swiss, the same varieties can be 30 percent (or more) less expensive in the dairy section. Yes, the package might not be as pretty—in fact, most of the time they're in nothing but clear plastic wrap with just a sticker—but by reading the label carefully and seeing where the cheese comes from and how long it's been aged, you'll be rewarded with huge savings over the cheeses over in the deli or on the cheese table.

It's a perfect example of how fancy packaging makes the difference in prices.

You see, natural cheeses have what is called a "standard of identity" that is set by the USDA; a six-month-aged New York sharp cheddar is a six-month-aged New York sharp cheddar no matter what the brand is or what the label looks like.

So, yes, all these products are identical. Keep in mind that the grass the cows feed on will be slightly different from place to place, so it is possible to have slight differences in taste. For example, Wisconsin cheddar is a bit sweeter than cheddar from New York state.

Remember, you won’t save money if you have to throw out your cheeses, so proper storage is important. Always rewrap cheese, preferably in paper, and wrap it as tightly as possible so the cheese doesn’t pick up flavors or odors from other foods. For extra insurance, seal the paper-wrapped cheese in plastic wrap, and change the paper every few days. The perfect storage place is actually your refrigerator’s vegetable bin, where the recommended temperature is 35–40 degrees.

If mold does form on your cheese, cut off the mold and about 1/2" more. The remaining cheese will be perfectly fine to eat. But if it smells funny, feels slimy, or looks dried and cracked, it’s probably best to throw it away.

A few more cheesy facts to chew on:

• In the United States, almost 10 billion pounds of natural and processed cheeses are made every year, using about one-third of all the milk produced in the country.
• There are more than 500 popular variations of cheese sold in the U.S.
• The average American consumes more than 27 pounds of cheese every year.
• Cheese offers high-quality protein; vitamins B2 and B12; and calcium, phosphorus, and zinc. For reference, an ounce of cheddar has 114 calories, 8.9 grams of fat, and 204 milligrams of calcium.
• Natural cheeses are made from whole, 2 percent, 1 percent, or fat-free milk, or a combination of these.
• Natural cheeses can be either unripened (not aged and made by coagulating milk proteins with acid) or ripened (aged and made by coagulating milk proteins with rennet—an enzyme—and culture acids). These cheeses are subsequently aged.
• It takes about five quarts of milk to make one pound of whole-milk cheese.