April may be Earth Month, but at Formaticum, we have always been committed to sustainability no matter what time of year it is. That's why our founder has sourced wrapping materials that are free from plasticizers, PFAs, and BPAs, as well as making sure that we offer a variety of plastic-free and compostable materials. But sustainability goes beyond cheese paper, which is why we've put together a list of ways to improve sustainability practices behind your cheese counter. 

1. Switch to a plastic-free or Reusable wrapping material for cut-to-order cheese.  We offer a variety of materials and colors to suit different styles of cheese - for example, compostable Zero is best for washed rinds and aged cheeses, while Brown Alios and Greaseproof Sheets work wonders for blue cheeses, butter, and charcuterie. Wrapping bloomy rinds and geotrichum-rinded cheeses in our plant-based Cellophane will allow them to breathe and won't damage their delicate rinds the way plastic wrap will. Wrapping your cheese in the right material will keep it healthier, longer, ultimately reducing waste. 

2. Wrap and store your backstock and larger display pieces in cheese paper instead of plastic wrap. Not only will this preserve the flavor and quality and extend the shelf life, but it will also reduce waste, since you will not need to face and rewrap the cheese as often, as our paper slows the growth of surface mold. We recommend large sheets of our new Reusable Wrap or a roll of One-Ply. 

3. Reduce food waste by using less-than-perfect herbs, vegetables, fruit, etc. to make added value products like compound butter or flavored cream cheese.  Use cheese approaching its Best By Date to make small Grab & Go cheese plates on our biodegradable Wood Trays. Shred older cheeses for a housemade Mac & Cheese or Fondue Blend, and sell Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano rinds separately for your customers to use in soups and sauces. 

4. Offer your customers sustainable ways to store cheese at home instead of using plastic wrap or plastic bags. Consider stocking compostable Zero Cheese Storage Bags & Sheets in retail packaging to provide your customers with an easy-to-use solution and also raise your basket averages. Aside from being incredibly user-friendly, our plastic-free Zero Cheese Storage Bags and new Reusable Cheese Storage Bags are better for the earth and better for the cheese!

5. Know who you are buying product from. Talk to your distributors and producers to learn their practices and decide if their values are in line with yours. Understand that you are representing their values by selling their product. Try to source cheese from producers and farmers who are committed to sustainable practices, such as regenerative farming & agriculture, plastic-free packaging, climate action planning, equity and diversity work, community education and service, land and wildlife preservation, and ethical treatment of animals….just to name a few. 

Learn more about Formaticum products on our FAQ page and reach out to wholesale@formaticum.com with any questions or comments. 

As cheesemongers, we are responsible for more than just cheese. The definition of a cheesemonger is someone who handles butter, cheese, and other dairy products - and while cheese is certainly at the forefront, butter should also be treated with just as much care and attention.

After all, butter is sometimes a byproduct of cheesemaking and represents the hard work of humans and animals alike. But not all butter is created equal - many well-known cheese producers also make butter, and in staggering varieties - salted, unsalted, cultured, sweet cream, whey cream, flavor added…some European butters are even named protected! 

Adding a cut-to-order butter to your counter is not only visually exciting but also convenient, and allows your customers to buy only what they need, when they need it, ensuring freshness. Adding a variety of different butter styles, even in retail packaging, ensures your customers can get exactly what they need, whether they are cooking, baking, or just snacking on a well-made baguette. 

You may also consider making and selling compound butters with seasonal ingredients like ramps or Calabrian chilies. This is a great way to reduce food waste and provide your customers with a great added value product. 

No matter what kind of butter you stock, you will need the right packaging. Formaticum's packaging offerings extend beyond cheese - we also carry many bulk wrapping materials that are perfect for butter! Each one of the materials mentioned below is imported from France, a country well known for its excellent butter. 

Our Super Wax sheets are leak-proof and allow your customers to see the product inside, while Brown Alios provides that classic French kraft brown look while preventing butterfat stains. Even High Lawn Farm in Lee, MA uses our Greaseproof Sheets to wrap their butter and keep it looking and tasting as fresh as the day it was made. Plus, all of these materials are plastic-free and commercially compostable, and do not contain PFAs, BPAs, or BPH, making them a great addition to your store, especially during Earth Month.

Click here to browse our full catalog of wrapping materials and request samples! 

Email wholesale@formaticum.com with any questions. 

Cheese case maintenance should be the first thing the opening monger does in the morning, and the last thing the closing monger does before turning the lights out in the case. But proper cheese care and maintenance goes beyond just straightening signs and glass wrapping - cheese is a living, breathing, gastronomic miracle that should be treated with respect! Keep reading to learn some tips from the Formaticum team on how to keep your cut-to-order cheese happy and healthy. 

1. Rotate your cheeses properly to ensure they are sold in a timely manner. Don't over-order in certain categories, and be careful when putting out several cheeses of the same style so that they don't compete with each other in the case and prolong the time they spend on display in plastic wrap. Use a Date Log to keep track of when wheels were first opened, and how long they've spent in the case, and a Push/Pin list can help your mongers know which cheeses to focus on to move them more quickly if they've been in the case a bit too long. Use your weekly case cleaning as an opportunity to reset the display and move cheeses to the front that you need to sell more quickly. 

2. Consider wrapping larger display pieces or back stock in Formaticum cheese paper instead of plastic wrap. Plastic wrap will suffocate the cheese and impart off flavors, and the longer it stays in contact with the cheese, the more intense the effects will be. Our One-Ply Roll is perfect for wrapping half and quarter wheels, and is also available in 20" so that you can store even your largest pieces, like 1/8th and even quarter wheels of Gruyère and Comté. 

3. Cheese should be faced and rewrapped daily. Remember, customers eat with their eyes first! Any visible mold on the face of the cheese may deter your customer from ordering. Cheesemongers and microbiologists agree - when it comes to surface mold on harder cheeses, it is both safe and recommended to gently scrape the surface to clean the mold, or cut off a bit of the affected side before rewrapping or cutting for a customer. Plus, wrapping cheese in Formaticum cheese paper will slow surface mold growth and help preserve the cheese longer than plastic wrap. 

4. Different cheeses require different types of wrapping materials! Bloomy-rinds and geotrichum rinds require more oxygen to thrive, making our plant-based and plastic-free Cellophane an ideal material to keep them happy in a full serve or grab and go case. One-Ply and Two-Ply sheets are versatile and great for all cheese styles, while fresh and blue cheeses are best kept in sturdier materials like Reusable Wrap, Super Wax, and Brown Alios, which are greaseproof and will prevent leakage. 

5. Provide the best possible experience for your customers by wrapping their cheese in Formaticum paper. This will help to preserve the flavor they loved at the counter and keep the cheese fresh in their fridge for as long as possible. Consider offering retail products like Classic or Reusable Cheese Storage Bags so that your customers can have professional-quality cheese storage in their own homes!

The proof is in the paper. Honor the cheesemakers, save your cheese - with Formaticum cheese storage solutions. Order products for next business day shipping at wholesale.formaticum.com and email wholesale@formaticum.com with any questions. 

Women are and always have been inherently connected to cheese. Cheesemaking was traditionally a woman's task, as evidenced by written record as well as historic recipes - for example, some of the earliest cheddar-style recipes were very forgiving and included a long, slow acidification to allow for the cheesemaker to accomplish other tasks during the day. Many families owned a few cows and women were responsible for milking them and turning that bit of milk into cheese, the ultimate value-added product. The blueprint for many homes and creameries included a make room that was connected to the kitchen so that the cheesemaker could keep an eye on the vat while working on other things. The invention of Camembert is credited to Marie Harel, and the artisan cheese renaissance in the United States would not have been possible without the Goat Ladies of the 80s, a group of goat farmers who began making French-inspired chèvre and changed the landscape of the American cheese scene forever. Today, women all over the world and from diverse backgrounds work hard to both uphold this legacy and create their own - from cheesemakers to affineurs, educators to importers, farmers to buyers, women continue to be integral to the cheese industry, now more than ever. 

In honor of International Women's Day, the March edition of Meet Your Monger highlights not one, but four women in cheese who we believe deserve recognition for their hard work and contributions to the cheese industry. We spoke with them about their career paths, their advice for cheese consumers, and why they all chose Formaticum products for their business and personal use. 

Mary Casella is a New York-based cheesemonger and educator and has been working in cheese for 9 years. She is a manager of the Central Market at Tin Building in Manhattan and has worked hard to shape and refine the cheese and charcuterie selection. In 2021 Mary was the inaugural recipient of the Daphne Zepos Research Award and she continues to champion and highlight the work and impact of women in the industry,

Agela Abdullah is a seasoned cheese educator who has worked with cheesemakers around the country over her 15+ years in the industry. After attending culinary school, she discovered her passion for cheese and today is the President of the Cheese Culture Coalition, a nonprofit organization that aims to promote equity and inclusion within the cheese industry by empowering BIPOC communities through education.

Vanessa Tilaka is the co-owner and Head Cheesemonger at Agnes Restaurant & Cheesery in LA, a full-service cheese shop, restaurant, and event space. Vanessa has worked in the restaurant and specialty food industry for more than 15 years and teaches classes, as well as curates a selection of cheese and other items that rotates frequently and features as many local makers as possible, focusing on products made with integrity by small producers, women, and BIPOC makers. 

Amye Gulezian is currently the Specialty Foods Operations Manager at High Lawn Farm in Lee, Massachusetts, a family-owned dairy farm in the Berkshires that milks 100% Jersey cows and was started by a woman named Marjorie Wilde. Amye studied heritage breed and dairy management in France, made raw milk cheese in Indiana, and was a cheesemonger in LA before settling at High Lawn Farm. Amye's main role is to help develop value added products like cheese, butter, and ice cream, with a focus on product quality and consistency as well as relationships with customers and vendors.

What inspired you to pursue a career in cheese?
VT: I always enjoyed eating cheese but didn't really understand differences and little nuances until I started exploring the creameries of Northern California and taking cheese classes at The Cheese School of San Francisco. I became enamored with learning more about it and finding out why they're all so different but similar. I decided I wanted to move from cooking to working in cheese shops and couldn't be happier. 

MC: Like a lot of people, I just stumbled upon it when I started to pursue a career in food. It didn't take me long to fall in love with mongering. I've always loved learning history through culture and my degree is in art history and photography and I feel like it all just came together. What's cheese if not history and artistry? I also love being able to share my joy of food with others and help people find their own relationship with cheese.

AA: I was a cook in Virginia when I first had my Eureka! cheese moment with a wedge of Humboldt Fog. Each kitchen I worked in from then on I made sure I was somehow involved with cheese. In 2008 I took a break from cooking and got a part-time job behind the counter at the now-closed Pastoral Artisan Cheese, Bread, & Wine. Next thing I know, it’s going on 16 years and I’m still passionate about the industry

Overall, I think cheese is such a fascinating food. From it originally being a food of peasants as a way to preserve all the nutrients of milk. Every culture has their own types of cheeses that were 'developed' to be most ideal for their climate, animals, and population. I think that should remain the core of everything we do. Cheese is endless and is for everyone.

How do you use Formaticum products in your business or at home?
VT: We definitely love that Formaticum offers sustainable options for wrapping cheeses, we use Formaticum Zero to wrap cheeses for take-home. We sell Cheese Storage Bags in the shop for ease so guests feel confident in keeping their cheeses fresh without having to fold origami. 

MC: I’ve used Formaticum cheese paper almost everywhere I’ve worked. The different sizes and styles make it easy to get a nice clean wrap and you know that when you send someone home with their cheese it’s going to stay in the best shape it can. At Tin Building we use the White Two-Ply for our cuts, both hard and soft cheeses. We use the Perforated Cellophane for our small formats, which allows them to breathe without drying out, and makes it easy to just hand them off to our customers.

AA: I’m always trying new cheese, or buying my favorites so my fridge can get pretty full and disorganized if I’m not careful. Formaticum helps keep my cheese in optimum condition, and helps me keep track of what I’ve got in the drawer, and when I bought it.

AG: At High Lawn Farm we use the Formaticum Cellophane Sheets in our shop for wrapping instead of plastic wrap. This helps to keep the cheese so much fresher and still visible to our customers. The fact that the clear storage sheets are 100% biodegradable means a lot to our farm as we are always trying to find the best and most environmentally friendly and sustainable packaging for our products. Seeing how this industry uses so much single-use plastic, it is important to us to be mindful and to do our part to reduce environmentally harmful waste. Also, I also love bringing the Cheese Storage Bags to demos so I can send guests home with little bags of their favorite goodies. 

What is your favorite Formaticum product and why?
VT: White Formaticum Zero. It's clean looking, user friendly, and good for the environment!

MC: I really like the Reusable Cheese Storage Bags. They're easy to use, and honestly at home sometimes I just can’t be bothered with wrapping! Plus, they’re great for storing veggies and other items too…

AA: I love the Reusable Cheese Storage Bags. I always have a huge wedge of Parmigiano-Reggiano in the fridge and the bags are the best way to keep the cheese fresh. The bags don’t tear either, which is great when you’ve got sharp rinds on aged cheeses.

AG: I love the Cheese Storage Bags, for business and personal use. All the cheese I keep in my fridge goes into those and it for sure helps to keep the cheese tasting fresh and lasting so much longer. It is amazing how much longer you can preserve the cheese's quality when you use the right packaging materials at home. Also, I love the Cheese Logs! I like giving them away as gifts to friends or people who are just getting started in exploring cheese. I have one handy whenever I taste a new cheese that I am excited about and don’t want to forget as well as using them during R&D when we are working on recipes or goals for High Lawn Farm cheeses.

If you were a cheese, which one would you be and why?
VT: Brabander Gouda from L'Amuse. It's fun, complex, nutty, and creamy... kinda like me!

MC: I was going to go vague and say any young pecorino – I go hard for anything sheep. The more I thought about it though, Marzolino felt right. My close friends happen to call me Marz (completely unrelated to cheese)  and I like to think I’m understated and a little sheepy and sheepish. Marzolino embodies a lot of what I love about cheese too: formerly seasonal, practical and durable, it has that lovely natural shape, and can be enjoyed at any meal of the day. I think cheeses with a nuanced profile make the perfect table cheese.  Also hey, coincidentally it's March!

AA: I have always had a special place in my heart for goats and goat milk cheeses so today I’ll say that I’m Monte Enebro. The rind tricks you into thinking you’re getting one kind of cheese, maybe a blue. You’re not quite sure. But when you cut into it it’s not at all what you expect. There are layers of flavor going on from the center to the rind, and like me, it changes and develops as it ages. 

AG: Armenian String Cheese- Not only does this cheese remind me of my childhood, it's also just so fun! All beautifully twisted up with bursts of oniony flavor from the nigella seeds, and yet so simple. It's versatile, great in quesadillas/ broiled over toast, or just simply stringed up as a snack or on a board. If you have not tasted it, you are missing out. Simple, fun, familiar, and always there when you just need a little something. - This cheese was a huge part of my childhood before I really got into cheese and I was unable to find it for such a long time. I am now seeing it around more, and I hope she never disappears on me again! I reunited with this cheese at the perfect time in my life, right when I needed it. 

What is one thing you wish consumers knew about artisan cheese?
VT: Good cheese is not cheap. Quality ingredients and the art of making really good cheese comes at a cost, and their expertise should not be discounted. 

MC: I wish that when people get price shock they understood what goes into cheese making. Dairy farming and cheese making is incredibly hard work– there's no day off. Behind every artisanal cheese is somebody's love and dedication for what they do and the animals and land they work with. It’s not expensive because it’s “fancy”; it's a reflection of the skill, care, and precision with which it's made.

AA: At the Cheese Culture Coalition we say that “Cheese is for Everyone.”  I truly believe that. There’s this idea that artisan cheese is out of the average shoppers’ reach, but that’s not true. If you like the 6-8 oz bars of cheddar that you see at the store, try something that’s aged a bit longer. The next time you want some cheddar go try clothbound cheddar. Exploring the artisan cheese world is fun, and isn’t an all or nothing adventure. As my friend and future cheese shop owner Natalie says “All Cheeses Are Beautiful”

AG: IT IS SO MUCH WORK - I wish people knew how much goes into making cheese. From raising the animals, feeding and caring for them - farming is 365 days a year commitment and is extremely hard work. During the vat production, it is hot and humid and long labor intensive back breaking days. There's so much bending, lifting and long weird hours. A cheesemaker’s life is dictated by pH and what the cheese needs. Then there's the days, weeks, or even years of affinage. Washing, flipping, brushing, adjusting, and spending time in cool dark spaces for many many many hours is not for the weak minded. Finally, delivering the cheese to the care of a store and a monger. The mongers we work with are so dedicated, passionate and educated. We really love working with them to translate all the hard work of the farm and production to the customers.

I think consumers and some mongers may not realize how many variables there are in all these steps, how much opportunity there is for things to go wrong and how it is almost a miracle when you can make the same cheese consistently well.. Especially with so many variables that you may not realize were a problem until months later. Cheesemakers are some crazy dedicated people who really invest so much into producing an incredibly diverse food and I hope they continue to get the recognition and support they deserve.

Lastly, makers really rely on mongers to represent them. I always try to encourage mongers to think about all the hours and hard work that went into making a particular cheese. As much as they need to sell the cheese, they also need to be mindful of what the cheesemaker would think if they walked into the shop and saw their cheese at that counter. Is it what the cheesemaker intended? Also, ask questions! Ask your monger, ask your maker, and ask your farmer. There can be a real disconnect, but with social media as well as just within the artisan cheese community, we have more access than ever before to connect with the producers and I think we should really be leaning into that. ‘Why is this batch softer or harder? What impacts these changes? How can we work together to move a batch we may not be 100% proud of?’ These are all great questions to ask.

What is your favorite cheese storage fact?
VT: Cheese is alive and needs to breathe! Also, don't buy more cheese than you can consume in 2 days. 

When I first learned that you could just clean the mold off aged cheeses to give it new life I thought that was one of the coolest things. I still think it’s pretty cool that even when your cheese has been a little neglected, all you have to do is give it some TLC.

AG: Cheese is alive and there is no one best practice for all of them. It's all about looking at and observing what the cheese needs whether it be with home storage, at the counter, in the vat or in the caves. Cheese can last much longer than you may think. Use all your senses, and your best judgment. Some cheeses last well beyond their ‘best by date’, so don’t just throw it out. Also, people always laugh, but think about what else is in your fridge. Cheese has so much fat in it and fat absorbs flavor. If not stored or wrapped properly, cheese will absorb other flavors in your fridge, or from its packaging. I can always taste when cheese has been packed in plastic or vacuum sealed for too long. It makes me sad to taste a piece of cheese that tastes like plastic after all the hard work that went into making it. So the correct packaging is so important to preserve the integrity and flavor of our deliciously decadent dairy foods.

To nominate a shop or monger for the Meet Your Monger series, email emilia@formaticum.com.