A waxed cheese truckle is a beautiful thing - a whole little wheel of cheese sealed in a glossy coat of wax. But if you've never opened one before, it can be oddly intimidating. Do you peel it? Cut it? Is the wax edible? Will you make a mess of it?
The good news is that opening waxed cheese is simple once you know how. This guide walks you through it step by step, explains what the wax is actually for, answers the "can you eat it" question, and shows you how to keep your cheese fresh once it's open.
How to Open Wax Cheese: The Quick Answer
To open wax cheese, use a sharp knife to score around the middle of the truckle, then peel the wax away in two halves - like opening a chocolate orange. Alternatively, cut the whole truckle (wax and all) into wedges like a cake, then peel the wax off each individual wedge before eating. Both methods work; the right one depends on whether you want to eat it all at once or a bit at a time.
What You'll Need
You don't need any special equipment. Just:
A small, sharp knife (a paring knife is ideal), a chopping board, and clean, dry hands. That's it. Avoid using a blunt knife, as you'll be tempted to press harder and the blade can slip.
How to Open a Waxed Cheese Truckle (Step by Step)
Here's the reliable method that works for any waxed truckle, whether it's a 200g mini or a larger wheel.
Step 1: Bring the cheese to room temperature. Take the truckle out of the fridge around 30 minutes before you want to open it. The wax becomes slightly more pliable at room temperature and is less likely to crack and shatter, and the cheese itself will taste better too.
Step 2: Score around the middle. Hold the truckle steady on a board. Using the tip of a sharp knife, score a line right around the circumference of the cheese, through the wax but not deep into the cheese itself. Aim for the "equator" of the wheel. You only need to cut through the wax layer, which is usually a couple of millimetres thick.
Step 3: Peel the wax away. Once you've scored all the way around, gently work your thumb or the knife tip under the edge of the wax and peel each half away from the cheese. It should come off cleanly in two dome-shaped pieces, revealing the cheese inside. If it resists, run your knife around the scored line again to make sure you've cut all the way through.
Step 4: Slice and serve. With the wax removed, your cheese is ready. Cut it into wedges, cubes, or slices depending on how you're serving it.
Prefer to open it a bit at a time? There's an alternative method:
The wedge method. Instead of peeling the whole thing, cut the entire truckle — wax and cheese together — straight down into wedges, like slicing a cake. Then peel the strip of wax off the back of each wedge as you eat it. This is handy if you only want a little at a time, because the remaining wax-covered wedges stay better protected in the fridge. As Godminster and other cheesemakers recommend, cutting into the centre and working outwards lets you taste the full flavour profile of the cheese from rind to core.
Tip: If the wax cracks or crumbles as you open it, don't worry - it's cosmetic. Just pick off any stray pieces before serving. Our waxed cheese truckles use a good-quality food-grade wax that peels cleanly when the cheese is at room temperature.
What Is Cheese Wax, and Why Is It There?
Cheese wax is a food-grade coating applied to the outside of certain cheeses - most commonly semi-hard cheeses like cheddar and Gouda. It's usually made from a blend of paraffin wax and microcrystalline wax, sometimes with added colouring (the classic red, black, or yellow you'll recognise from a truckle).
The wax serves a genuinely useful purpose. It creates an airtight seal around the cheese that locks in moisture, keeps the cheese from drying out, and prevents unwanted mould from growing on the surface.
This is also why waxed cheese lasts so well. The protective coating significantly extends shelf life, which makes waxed truckles ideal for gifting, hampers, and cheeseboards where the cheese may not be eaten immediately. For more on this, see our guide to how long cheese lasts in the fridge.
Can You Eat the Wax on Cheese?
This is the question everyone asks, and the answer is: the wax is safe, but it isn't meant to be eaten.
Cheese wax is food-grade, meaning it's manufactured to standards that make it safe for contact with food. If you accidentally swallow a small piece, it won't harm you, it simply passes through your body without being digested. However, cheese wax is designed to be packaging, not part of the eating experience. As British Wax notes, cheese wax should be considered part of the cheese's packaging and is not supposed to be eaten, much like the wax shell on a Babybel.
So while a stray fleck won't do you any harm, you should peel the wax off and discard it rather than eating it deliberately. It's flavourless, chewy, and unpleasant to eat in any quantity and unlike a natural cheese rind, it offers nothing to the taste.
The distinction worth knowing is many natural cheese rinds (like the bloomy white rind on Brie or the hard rind on Parmesan) are edible and part of the cheese. Wax coatings and cloth bindings are not. If it's wax, peel it. If it's a natural rind, it's usually fine to eat.
How to Store Waxed Cheese Once Opened
Before you open it, a waxed truckle can be kept in the fridge for weeks or even months, right up to its best before date, thanks to the protective seal. Unopened, it can also be stored somewhere cool and dark (below 15°C) for shorter periods, which is why truckles travel and gift so well.
Once you've broken the wax seal, treat the exposed cheese like any opened hard cheese:
Wrap the cut surface in wax paper, parchment, or cheese paper (not cling film directly against the cheese), then place it in an airtight container or resealable bag in the fridge. If you used the wedge method, the remaining wax on each wedge helps protect it, but you should still wrap the exposed cut faces. Properly stored, opened waxed cheese will keep for around 2 to 4 weeks.
You can also store cheese in the freezer and we have a handy guide on how to store cheese in the freezer here.
What to Do with Leftover Cheese Wax
Once you've peeled it, you're left with a couple of dome-shaped pieces of wax. Before you bin it, a few notes:
It's not compostable. Because most cheese wax contains paraffin (a petroleum-derived product), it shouldn't go in your food waste or compost bin. It goes in general waste.
You can reuse it. Some people melt cheese wax down and reuse it for sealing their own homemade cheeses, or for craft projects and DIY fire starters. If you're into home cheesemaking, clean cheese wax can be remelted and reused several times.
Kids love it. The soft, colourful wax from a truckle is genuinely fun to mould and shape - a small, harmless novelty once the cheese is gone.