The Dark Art of Cheese Maturation
I joke that I can teach someone everything I know about making cheese in about 2 hours. But it will take a lifetime to teach them the art of maturation. This is where young, uninteresting cheese is transformed into something that can be so beautiful it makes you weep with joy. It’s also where cheese can be ruined.
Cheese maturation—in France, known as affinage—is the dark art of what we do as cheesemakers. It is both a science and a craft, requiring a balance of environmental control, microbiological development, and artisanal judgment, which is informed by knowledge gained through observation and practice. Cheese maturation is the crucible in which milk is transformed into a product of character, complexity, and cultural identity. It is both an applied science and a sensory art—anchored in tradition, refined through craft, and evolving through innovation.
It is during maturation that cheese acquires its distinctive flavour, aroma, and texture. This process, which can span from days to years, transmutes a bland, rubbery curd into the diverse array of cheeses celebrated worldwide—from the dense, crumbly textures of aged hard cheese to the oozy, aromatic decadence of a perfectly ripe soft, surface ripened cheese.
Not all cheeses undergo maturation – fresh cheeses, often made using lactic acid coagulation (as opposed to rennet), which are best consumed within a few days of being made, have no material maturation stage. As such, their delicate flavour is almost entirely attributed to the quality and character of the milk as they are not influenced by any of the physical or chemical changes derived from maturation.
The Science of Cheese Maturation
At its core, cheese maturation is a biochemical process. It begins after the curds have been formed and pressed, and typically after the cheese has been salted. During maturation, a series of enzymatic and microbial reactions occur. These reactions primarily involve the breakdown of proteins (proteolysis), fats (lipolysis), and residual lactose (via lactic acid bacteria).
In hard cheeses, like our C2, Tom and George, proteolysis is slower but more extensive, sometimes producing crystalline textures (amino acid tyrosine crystals) and complex, nutty, and umami-rich flavours.
Soft cheeses, like our 1792, Oen or Saint, undergo surface ripening, where specific moulds (like the one we use to ripen our Saint, Penicillium camemberti) and bacteria (such as Brevibacterium linens used in the rind development of washed rind cheeses) act from the rind inward, breaking down the proteins and fats to create creamy, sometimes runny interiors and pungent rinds.
At its core, cheese maturation is really just the act of creating the right conditions for microbes to flourish. Think about how this might have happened a few hundred years ago, before refrigeration and cool rooms were invented. Back then we had cellars and caves. These were places that had a stable, cool temperature and often (where water in the surrounding ground was present) high levels of humidity. These are the two critical factors that influence the maturation of cheese, because microbes (yeast, bacteria and moulds) are just like us – they have a temperature and humidity range that they thrive in.
Temperature
The ideal range for real cheese is 10°-15° C. Less than this and the microflora of the cheese will become dormant and the cheese will not develop to its potential. More than this and the fats in the cheese will breakdown and the cheese will become oily and start to smell rotten. Modern cheese, by contrast, is designed to be stable at very low temperatures so that supermarkets can maximize it’s shelf-life.
Humidity
The rind is the vital interface between the cheese and the outside environment, so providing the ideal conditions for the development of the rind is the basis of cheese maturation. The moulds, bacteria and yeasts on the rind all require a high humidity environment between 75-90% to thrive. In traditional caves this level of humidity occurs naturally but in modern facilities it needs to be artificially created.
The Craft of Affinage
Affinage requires a trained eye, a sensitive nose, and an intuitive understanding of the evolving product. Affineurs—the artisans who oversee cheese maturation—regularly turn, brush, wash, and inspect cheeses to ensure even maturation and to influence the rind’s development. We employ different techniques, depending on what we are trying to achieve.
For example, washed rind cheeses are washed regularly because the key family of bacteria that we are wanting to encourage like a wet environment. Natural rinded hard cheeses present a perfect surface for moulds to grow, but left unchecked they can lead the cheese somewhere we don’t want it go, so regular brushing or rubbing helps to control their growth.
Timber shelving plays a crucial, if underappreciated, role in traditional cheese aging rooms. Wood acts as a natural regulator of humidity, absorbing excess moisture and releasing it as needed. It also harbours beneficial microbial communities that can inoculate new cheeses with desirable flora, subtly influencing rind formation and flavour. As a cheesemaker, I have always been fascinated by the relationship between cheese and timber. Traditionally, cheesemakers used the trees that grew locally – this is especially evident in the European mountains where conifers grow. These trees are perfect for cheese maturation – they are soft woods, open grained and impart a resinous character. Unfortunately, after several years of experimenting, in Australia, there are not many indigenous species that are suitable. Eucalypts tend to be too high in oil, which can actually have a detrimental effect on the microflora you are trying to proliferate. One exception, which we employ in the maturation of our 1792, is our local Huon Pine, an aromatic, native timber which impart a delicious smoky quality into the cheese.
Traditionally Matured Cheeses are Expensive… and they should be
When I talk about maturation, I am really talking about the craft which has been practiced and re
fined over centuries. Essentially it is rind development, regardless of what style of cheese you are making. The rind is where so much of the flavour in artisan cheese comes from. It is what drives character and complexity. But developing rinds, hard or soft, takes time and effort…. And that means cost.
Take our hard cheese George for example. George is aged on average for 6 months. During that time it will lose about 12% of its weight through moisture loss which happens through the rind. That is straight of the bottom line for cheesemakers like us. Not great for the accountant but that loss is also what contributes to the surface of the cheese being a perfect environment for the growth of bacteria and moulds.
To ensure the moisture loss is even and the development of the rind happens evenly on the exterior of the cheese, each wheel needs to be physically turned and rubbed every few days. That needs to happen by a hum and that human needs to be paid for that important work. The final cost consideration is the expense incurred in running a maturation room – refrigeration and humidity. Because in Australia we are not allowed to use natural environments to age cheese (like caves or tunnels) we need to build fake caves. These obviously cost money to run and the longer a cheese stays in that maturation room, the more it costs to mature.
Modern Maturation Practices
While traditional affinage continues to thrive among artisan producers, industrial cheese makers often employ controlled maturation facilities—clean, temperature-regulated rooms where the process can be standardised for scale and cost management. These settings can lack the rich microbial complexity of traditional caves, but they offer predictability and efficiency.
Modern innovations such as plastic shelving, vacuum packaging, and microbiological inoculation allow for precise manipulation of cheese outcomes. However, these modern methods, while efficient and cost-effective, do not match the depth and subtlety of flavour produced by traditional techniques. Out of all of these, vacuum packing is probably the biggest sin, but also the biggest cost saver. A cheese sealed in a bag will not lose moisture and weight. It will not form a natural rind so therefore it doesn’t need to be turned and rubbed every few days. Both of these things greatly reduce the cost of production but the resulting cheese will lack character, complexity and by some measures, quality.
A Final Word on Ageing Cheese
It is wrong to assume that age equals quality. A five-year-old wheel of cheese is not inherently better than a four-year-old wheel. Every cheese will have a point in it’s life where it will have the perfect balance of flavour and texture.
In that respect, cheese is like people – we all have a point on our lifeline where we are at our physical and mental best. For those for who that point is in our rear-view mirror, that does not mean we are devoid of quality and pleasure!
Of course I am talking in generalities here, but in our youth, we tend to be less engaging than when we are of a fuller age. Same with cheese. Too young, and the cheese will taste ‘green’ and maybe not have reached its full flavour and texture potential. Too old and the flavour may lack vigour and the texture too dry.
But everyone is different and what I like in a cheese will differ to what you like. And that’s OK.
