6 Best Cheesecloths For Aging Cheese for a Perfect Rind

You’ve spent hours carefully warming milk, adding culture, cutting the curd, and finally pressing a beautiful, uniform wheel of cheese. But the work isn’t over; in many ways, it’s just beginning. The cloth you choose to wrap that cheese for aging is far more than a simple covering—it’s a critical tool that manages moisture, shapes the rind, and ultimately defines the cheese’s final character.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, this site earns from qualifying purchases. Thank you!

Choosing Cloth Porosity for Proper Rind Formation

Not all cheesecloth is created equal, and the weave is everything. The "grade" of a cheesecloth, like Grade 50 or Grade 90, simply refers to the number of threads per inch. This isn’t a measure of good or bad, but a measure of porosity—how open or tight the weave is.

A tighter weave, like Grade 90, has more threads and smaller holes. It’s excellent for wicking moisture away from the surface of a hard cheese slowly and evenly, preventing cracks while creating a smooth, dense rind. A looser weave, like Grade 50, has fewer threads and larger openings, allowing for much greater airflow and faster moisture release.

The choice comes down to your goal. Are you building a hard, dry rind on a cheddar that will age for a year? You need a tight weave. Are you trying to drain a high-moisture ricotta or protect a soft cheese that needs to breathe? A looser weave is your friend. Thinking about the cloth’s function, not just its "quality," is the first step to mastering rind development.

Regency Wraps Grade 90 for Hard Cheese Aging

When you’re making a cheese you plan to age for months, you need a cloth that’s both durable and precise. This is where a high-quality, fine-weave cloth comes into its own. It acts as a perfect interface between the cheese and its aging environment.

Regency Wraps Grade 90 is a classic for a reason. This is your go-to cloth for pressing and aging hard cheeses like cheddar, parmesan, or an alpine-style Tomme. Its tight, lint-free weave prevents the cheese paste from pushing into the cloth’s fibers, which is crucial for creating a smooth, professional-looking surface that’s easy to keep clean during aging.

This fine weave also provides excellent moisture wicking without shocking the cheese by drying the surface too quickly. It draws whey out evenly during the final pressing. The main tradeoff is that it’s not ideal for the initial draining of very wet curds, as it can clog. Think of it as a finishing tool, not a bulk draining tool.

If You Care Unbleached Cotton for Natural Rinds

Sometimes the goal isn’t to create an impenetrable barrier, but to foster a living, breathing ecosystem on the surface of your cheese. For these natural-rind or bloomy-rind cheeses, the type of cloth you use is especially important. You want something that protects the cheese without interfering with its development.

"If You Care" and similar brands offer unbleached, organic cotton cloth. The key word here is unbleached. Standard white cheesecloth is bleached with chlorine, and you don’t want those residues anywhere near the delicate fungi and bacteria you’re trying to cultivate on your rind.

This type of cloth protects a young cheese from dust or pests in your aging space while still allowing for excellent air exchange. This breathability is critical for the proper growth of desirable molds like Penicillium candidum on a Camembert or the various cultures on a natural-rind Tomme. Using a pure, untreated cloth is a small step that has a big impact on the final flavor and authenticity of your cheese.

Cheesecloth Company Grade 50 for Softer Cheeses

Softer, higher-moisture cheeses need a cloth that won’t smother them. A tight weave can hold too much whey against the surface, leading to a slimy, overly acidic rind. This is where a more open-weave cloth becomes essential.

A Grade 50 cloth has a noticeably more open weave that is perfect for the initial draining of curds for almost any cheese. It allows whey to flood out quickly without losing a significant amount of curd through the holes. For soft, fresh cheeses like paneer or farmer’s cheese that undergo a short pressing, this grade provides the right balance of drainage and support.

However, you must recognize its limits. Never use a low-grade, open-weave cloth for aging a hard cheese. As the cheese settles and dries, its surface will grow directly into the large openings in the cloth. You’ll end up with a frustrating mess, trying to pick dozens of threads out of the rind you worked so hard to create. It is the right tool for a very specific, and different, job.

Olicity Ultra-Fine Weave for Smooth Textures

For some cheeses, particularly alpine styles or washed-rind varieties, the final texture of the rind is as important as the flavor. You’re aiming for a surface that is perfectly smooth and free of any cloth marks. This requires a cloth that is even finer than the standard Grade 90.

Olicity and other specialty brands offer ultra-fine weaves, sometimes called Grade 100. This material is incredibly dense and feels more like a soft handkerchief than what you might typically think of as cheesecloth. When used to line a cheese press, it imparts almost no texture onto the cheese surface.

The result is a flawless, smooth rind that is easy to wash, brine, or oil during the aging process. The tradeoff for this perfection is that the cloth can be less forgiving. You must ensure it’s kept damp during pressing to prevent it from sticking stubbornly to the cheese. It’s a specialist’s tool for when the visual and textural details really matter.

Country Lane Reusable Cloth for Bandage Wrapping

Bandage wrapping is a time-honored technique, most famously used for traditional cheddars. This method requires a very specific type of cloth that is far more robust than standard cheesecloth. It needs to be strong enough to become a second skin for the cheese.

Cloths sold for bandage wrapping, like those from Country Lane, are typically a heavier, sturdier cotton. They feel more like a light muslin or canvas. The process involves coating this cloth in lard or butter and wrapping it tightly around the wheel of cheese. This creates a protective, breathable barrier for long-term aging.

This heavy cloth is strong enough to handle being stretched and molded around the cheese without tearing. The fat-soaked wrap protects the cheese while allowing it to lose moisture slowly over many months, which is key to developing the complex, nutty flavors and crumbly texture of a true aged cheddar. This isn’t an all-purpose cloth; it’s for a specific, traditional technique that yields incredible results.

Plymor Butter Muslin: A Versatile Alternative

Sometimes the most useful tool in your dairy isn’t labeled "cheesecloth" at all. Butter muslin is essentially a very high-grade, durable cheesecloth, often equivalent to a Grade 90 weave but made to be more robust and reusable. It’s a true workhorse.

I find myself reaching for butter muslin more than any other cloth. It’s fine enough to line a press for a hard cheese, creating a beautiful, smooth rind. It’s also strong and dense enough to drain soft cheeses like chèvre or yogurt cheese without losing solids through the weave.

If you are just starting out and can only invest in one type of cloth, butter muslin is the most versatile and economical choice. It handles the vast majority of cheesemaking tasks admirably, from initial draining to final pressing. While you might eventually buy specialized cloths for specific projects, a good piece of butter muslin will never go unused.

Sanitizing and Reusing Your Cheese Aging Cloths

Throwing away a high-quality cloth after a single use is a waste of money and resources. With proper care, your cheesecloths and butter muslin can last for years, but cleaning them correctly is a matter of food safety and cheese quality.

The most important rule is to rinse your cloths in cold water immediately after use. Hot water will cook the milk proteins (casein) onto the fibers, making them nearly impossible to remove and creating a breeding ground for bacteria. Once rinsed of all solids, you can truly clean it.

I recommend boiling the cloth for 10-15 minutes in a pot of water with a tablespoon of an oxygen-based cleaner or washing soda. Avoid dish soap or laundry detergent, which can leave behind scents and residues that will taint your next batch of cheese. After boiling, rinse thoroughly with hot water and hang to dry completely. Before your next use, a quick 5-minute boil in plain water is all you need to sanitize it and ensure a clean start for your next masterpiece.

Ultimately, the cloth you choose is an active participant in your cheesemaking, not just a passive wrapper. It controls moisture, shapes the rind, and protects your cheese as it transforms. Start with a versatile workhorse like butter muslin, and as you begin to focus on specific styles, invest in the cloths that will help you perfect them.