Cheese rind - to eat or not?

Question

I don't eat parmesan rind, because I know it's inedible. I throw it into a pot of minestrone for flavor. 
 
But what about other rinds - for example, brie? I can't stand rind, but is it supposed to be an acquired taste that I'm just not "getting"? If I'm in polite company, am I supposed to eat it instead of picking around it?
 
Or, is there no right or wrong, and it's just a matter of preference?
 
Thanks very much.

Answer

Parmesan, romano and other hard cheese rinds are used sometimes for flavoring in minestrone and other hearty soup recipies. They won't melt into the soup(take them out before serving)but they will give up their concentrated flavor. Just make sure you trim off any wax that may be on the rind.

Answer

Twelve-hundred-year-old cheese etiquette:
 
Einhard's ninth-century biography of the Emperor Charlemagne describes a visit the Emperor made around 800 AD to a monastery in what is now northern France. Since it's a Friday, the abbot serves Charlemagne the abbey's distinctive, wheel-shaped soft cheese. Charlemagne thinks this cheese is great, and demands a cartload be sent every year to his palace. The abbot notices that Charlemagne hasn't eaten his rind, and tells him it is the best part. Charlemagne's response is not recorded.
 
The moral of the story is unclear. What is clear that if you rule Western Europe you get as much free Brie as you can eat and don't have to eat the rind. :-)

Answer

I spent several years maried to a French woman, and a lot of that time in the cheese eating capital of the world, La France. Some people eat the rind, some don't. It purely a matter of personal preference.

Answer

Interesting topic. Thanks for bringing it up.
 
As for the health issue of eating the rinds of cheese -- it definitely does depend on the cheese. Usually younger, fresher cheeses have a rind that is safe to eat -- older cheeses may have active mold that, while perhaps not directly harmful, may make some people slightly queasy.
 
It's important to remember that the rind is the "wrapper" of the cheese. And, unlike the rind or "wrapper" of fruit it can't really be washed (it can be wiped off, however, and should be before serving!)
 
For the taste issue -- I take serious issue with anyone who says you "have" to eat the rind. These people are ignorant -- you don't ever have to eat any part of anything. I know plenty of people who cut the fat from a piece of steak (which often is the best part), just because they don't like to eat it. It's not from a health or weight issue, they just don't like it. Who am I to tell them to eat that part of the steak? Or people who never eat an apple without peeling it that they must eat the peel? I feel EXACTLY the same about cheese. It's also not my place, or anyone else's, to assume that people are not eating the rind from ignorance. They may well know that they do or don't like the rind of that particular type of cheese, and I just assume that they know their own taste well enough for me not to mess with it.
 
If someone ever asks me, I always say, for all cheeses, that it's optional.
 
As for the ettiquette angle of cheese serving, things are also pretty clear cut. Emily Post's Blue Book of Social Ettiquette clearly shows how each type of cheese should be served, both formally and casually.
 
The first concern is that the cheese be served at the right temperature, and with the correct accompaniments and untensils.
 
She discourages the serving of large, uncut pieces of cheese at "stand up" cocktail parties and teas. The cutting of your own cheese while standing up holding a drink is not easy or socially graceful. When cheese is served at a "stand up" party like that, it should be apportioned off into single-serving pieces, whether on bread or crackers, or served in some dish.
 
She stresses that toothpicks are never proper serving utensils. :) If you serve pieces of hard cheese, serve them already on pieces of bread or crackers. Otherwise save hard cheeses during the cheese course of a sit down meal, or in sandwiches, etc. Never have cubes or small slices of hard cheese just sitting out for people to pick up -- even if they have untensils, some people will invariably use their hands and probably touch other people's cheese! This is not so horrible, I guess, if everyone has totally clean hands (and one hopes one's guests do), but it does definitely bring down the social tone of the party, perhaps to less than acceptable levels :)
 
 Serve cheese in an assembled dish or on a bread/cracker/vegetable etc vehicle. This makes good sense, and is kinder to your guests.
 
Soft cheeses, like brie, should NOT be served as a whole wheel at a standup party. I don't care how much yummy stuff you've baked on it, it's just a disaster waiting to happen. At a sitdown party you can serve this, as it can be passed around the table by you, a servant (fat chance!) or from guest to guest at an informal party. Then people can apportion off the amount of cheese/topping that they want, rather than hovering over a buffet trying to carve off the part they want. She also stresses that everyone should definitely take their portion of rind, and cut it off on their own plate. This is another reason that stand up parties are problematic with a rinded cheese -it's tough to carve out the middle while you're standing and holding a drink! 
 
If you must serve a rinded cheese-- cut off the rind and serve the cheese in a dish or on a rusk, bread, cracker, vegetable, etc, she says.
 
Whole, natural cheeses are actually somewhat tricky to serve. I prefer to put them in or on something when I serve them at a party that is not actually a sit-down dinner. 
 
Just a few thoughts -- but I'm sure that it's not going to stop that ubiquitous round of brown-sugared "brie" I see at every cocktail party, ruthlessly carved at and hacked by everyone who passes by trying to get at the middle (sigh).

Answer

I eat parmigiano reggiano rind all the time. Done it for years! In fact, when ever I get a new wedge the rind is the first thing I eat. Brie, Camembert, you name it. I'm a rind eater. An acquired taste, perhaps; but, like coffee without sugar, absolutely delicious!

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Cheese rind - to eat or not?

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