Clothbound
A cheese wrapped in muslin sealed with lard or butter, the traditional dress of farmhouse cheddar.
Also: bandaged, cloth-wrapped, muslin-bound
A clothbound cheese is wrapped in strips of cotton muslin, glued to the surface with lard, butter or flour paste, before it goes into the store. The cloth protects the cheese and lets it breathe, so it loses moisture slowly and grows a thin natural rind of moulds beneath. The result is drier, more crumbly and more complex than a cheese ripened in plastic. Traditional English cheddars from Somerset, along with Lancashire, Cheshire and some American cheddars, are clothbound, and the cloth is peeled away before cutting. It is slow and costly, since the cheese loses weight as it dries, which is why most block cheddar is ripened sealed in plastic instead.