Can you eat cheese rind?

There are numerous cheeses with different rinds.  Some of them should not be eaten, while others are perfectly edible, and their taste forms an essential part of enjoying cheese.  So, here is some advice to help you enjoy the best possible cheese-tasting experience.  Let’s start with cheeses with a bloomy rind.  A bloomy rind consists of a white downy covering, such as you can find on the Bouquet des Moines, on Brie or the Fleur de Fagne, and it is perfectly edible.

Washed rinds are also edible and are a speciality of the Val-Dieu Grand Cru for example, and other kinds of Herve cheese PDO as well.

You may be surprised to learn that the rind of cheese used in raclette is also edible; but it is entirely naturel and adds an interesting depth of taste.

Cheeses of the Gouda type, on the other hand, are not the same, as the cheese is ripened in plasticised rinds which are obviously not edible.  Finally, while hard cheeses such as Comté or Belgian Abbey cheeses have natural rinds, it is preferable not to eat them because these cheeses already have plenty enough taste, which the natural rind has caused to develop during the ripening process in cellars.