The Best Cheese at Costco and Other Warehouse Stores

Close behind come the Kirkland Signature Coastal cheddar from England, aged 15 months, the Kirkland Signature double-cream brie from Normandy, aged Dutch Gouda, and the twin logs of fresh goat cheese.

A warehouse cheese is a bargain only if it is what the label says and you finish it before it turns. Hard, aged cheeses pass both tests: their names and ages can be checked on the rind or label, and they keep for months. The same checks work at Sam's Club, BJ's or any store that sells cheese by the brick.

The best Costco cheeses at a glance

This table sums up the best Costco cheeses: what to buy, why each one is a good warehouse buy, and how long it keeps.

The best cheese at Costco, by type

The best cheese at Costco depends on the job, so the picks below are sorted by type, each with what to buy and its weak spot.

Parmigiano-Reggiano

Parmigiano-Reggiano is the strongest warehouse buy, because a hard, dry, protected cheese loses almost nothing to a big format. Costco's Kirkland Signature wedge averages about 2 pounds and is aged over 24 months, and the same label sells it shredded in 1-pound bags imported from Italy. It is a raw-milk cheese made from only milk, salt and calf rennet, and Costco.com even sells a whole wheel of about 80 pounds. Weak spot: the consortium never recommends freezing a wedge, only grated cheese, so grate and freeze any surplus. Keep the rind; it is edible once cleaned. The guide on how to spot real Parmigiano-Reggiano covers the fakes.

Aged Gouda

Aged Gouda is worth buying in a big piece for the same reason: it is hard, dry and slow to spoil. Costco.com sells two from the Dutch cooperative Beemster: Black Label, aged 20 months and made exclusively for Costco as a PDO North Holland Gouda, in 24-pound wheels, and XO, aged 26 months, by the 7-pound quarter wheel, both firm and crystalline with butterscotch notes. In the warehouse case, read the months, since Gouda is aged anywhere from four weeks to a year or more. Weak spot: young Gouda can wear the same coat. The Gouda guide walks through each stage.

Brie

Brie is the soft cheese worth buying at a warehouse when a party is coming, because a cut wheel will not wait long. Costco's Kirkland Signature Imported French Brie is a 1.32-pound, double-cream wheel made in Normandy, big enough to anchor a board for a crowd or to bake whole. The brie guide explains how everyday brie differs from the protected French originals. Weak spot: size, so cut from the center outward and wrap the cut faces well.

Cheddar

Cheddar is the everyday warehouse staple, and the standout at Costco is the Kirkland Signature Coastal, which Costco calls a rugged, mature English cheddar aged 15 months, sold in blocks of about 2 pounds. Ford Farm in Dorset, which makes Coastal, credits its occasional crunch to calcium lactate crystals that form as it ages. For sauces, a younger sharp cheddar melts more smoothly. Weak spot: crumbly, crystal-studded cheddar slices badly, so cut chunks for a board and grate it for cooking. For other blocks, see what to look for in a good cheddar.

Goat cheese

Goat cheese is the one fresh cheese that suits warehouse sizes, because Costco packs it as two sealed logs. The Kirkland Signature Fresh Goat Cheese comes as two vacuum-packed 10.5-ounce logs of 100 percent goat milk from Canada, and Costco's own magazine says unopened, vacuum-wrapped goat cheese can keep for several months in the fridge. Open one log and leave the other sealed. Weak spot: an open log is a soft cheese on a clock, so wrap it in parchment, then plastic or a lidded box.

How to check Costco cheese labels

Checking Costco cheese labels takes a few seconds per cheese: read the name, look for the protected-name mark, then find the months of aging.

Protected-name seals and rind marks

Protected-name seals and rind marks are the fastest proof of what you are buying, and Parmigiano-Reggiano has the clearest ones. Every wheel is stenciled with the pin-dot words Parmigiano Reggiano and the month and year it was made, and the consortium's guidelines for US stores say every piece cut in the store should keep part of that lettering. Wedges packed in Italy must carry its certification mark and a minimum age. For Dutch cheese, look for Gouda Holland, a PGI aged at least 28 days with a casein mark on every cheese under EU Regulation 1122/2010, or Noord-Hollandse Gouda, a PDO. The PDO and PGI guide decodes the symbols.

The age on the label

The age on the label tells you more than the adjectives around it. The federal cheddar standard never mentions "sharp"; Wisconsin's dairy board uses the word for cheddar aged 9 to 12 months. Parmigiano-Reggiano has a 12-month minimum, and its consortium describes the stages: 12 to 19 months is delicate and milky, 20 to 26 crumbly and balanced, with notes of nuts and meat stock, and 27 to 34 pronounced and spicy. Pick by use: younger for salads, the 24-month wedge for pasta, older for the end of a meal with fruit and honey.

The FDA standard names

The FDA standard names explain why "Parmesan" and "Parmigiano-Reggiano" are different purchases. Under 21 CFR 133.165, Parmesan is a recipe, not a place: a cow's milk cheese cured at least 10 months with no more than 32 percent moisture, made anywhere, in a section titled, oddly, "Parmesan and reggiano cheese." The grated cheese standard lets shredded cheese carry anticaking agents and mold inhibitors, but the consortium forbids anticaking agents in grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, so the real thing lists milk, salt and rennet or enzymes, nothing else. Gouda has a US standard too, so plain "Gouda" can come from anywhere.

How to store big blocks of cheese

To store big blocks of cheese, keep them sealed until you need them, then portion them the day you open them. Clemson University's cheese handling guide says to refrigerate cheese at 35 to 40°F; hard cheeses generally keep for several months, soft ones one to three weeks after opening. Cut a 2-pound block into half-pound pieces, wrap each tightly, and freeze what you will not reach in a few weeks. If mold appears on a hard block, cut away at least 1 inch around and below the spot, keeping the knife out of the mold. Soft, shredded, sliced or crumbled cheese with mold goes in the trash.

Which Costco cheeses freeze well

Most Costco cheeses that come in blocks freeze well for cooking. The University of Wisconsin's Center for Dairy Research lists cheddar, Muenster, mozzarella, Colby, provolone, brick, cheese curds and hard Italian cheeses as good candidates, with mozzarella holding up to a year. It does not recommend freezing cream cheese, mascarpone, blue cheese, ricotta or feta. Freeze fast at 0°F, use within two to six months, as Clemson advises, and thaw slowly in the refrigerator; the dairy center allows about a week. Thawed cheddar will not slice well, so cook with it. More detail is in should you freeze cheese.

What most Costco cheese lists get wrong

Most Costco cheese lists rank the flavors and stop there, which skips the details that decide whether a big block is a deal or a waste.

White crystals are not mold

White crystals in an aged block are not mold, and they are not salt either. In Parmigiano-Reggiano, the consortium identifies them as tyrosine, an amino acid, and calls them a sign of age; in Coastal cheddar, Ford Farm credits calcium lactate. They are why aged blocks crunch, so leave them be.

Frost-free freezers are hard on cheese

Frost-free freezers are hard on cheese because their defrost cycles warm and refreeze what is inside, which the Center for Dairy Research warns damages texture. If yours is frost-free, keep cheese at the back and treat the freezer as a short bridge, not a vault.

A shredded bag cannot be trimmed

A shredded bag cannot be trimmed the way a block can, so freeze half of any big bag the day you open it. Clemson's rule is blunt: moldy shredded cheese gets thrown out, because the cutting blade can spread mold through it. Freeze shreds flat so you can snap off a handful; the dairy center found frozen shreds melt a little less but stretch more.

Questions about Costco cheese

These are the questions about Costco cheese that shoppers ask most often.

What is the best cheese at Costco?

The best cheese at Costco for most households is the Kirkland Signature Parmigiano-Reggiano wedge, aged over 24 months. For a board, add the 15-month Coastal cheddar and the Normandy brie.

Is Costco's Parmigiano-Reggiano real?

Costco's Kirkland Signature Parmigiano-Reggiano is sold as the Italian original, aged over 24 months, and you can check any piece: look for pin-dot lettering on the rind or the consortium's mark and age on the label.

Is there a difference between Parmesan Reggiano and Parmigiano-Reggiano?

There is a real difference between Parmesan Reggiano and Parmigiano-Reggiano. US rules let "reggiano" stand in for domestic Parmesan, while the Italian consortium bars names like "Parmesan reggiano" for its cheese, so treat that wording as a red flag.

Does Costco sell vegetarian cheese?

Whether Costco sells vegetarian cheese depends on the label, because several of its best-known hard cheeses use animal rennet: Parmigiano-Reggiano requires calf rennet, Costco's online listing for Don Juan Manchego states "Rennet: Animal," and Gouda Holland may be made with calf or microbial rennet. Federal standards let makers list any rennet as "enzymes," so look for microbial rennet spelled out; how rennet works explains the difference.

Can you freeze Costco cheese?

You can freeze most Costco cheese that comes in blocks, such as cheddar, mozzarella and provolone, in half-pound pieces. Skip cream cheese, ricotta and whole wedges of Parmigiano-Reggiano; grate the Parmigiano first.

What is the best Costco cheese for a charcuterie board?

The best Costco cheese for a charcuterie board is a mix: Parmigiano-Reggiano in rough chunks, Coastal cheddar in planks, the brie and a goat cheese log. The charcuterie cheese guide covers amounts.

Your first Costco cheese run

On your first Costco cheese run, start with one hard cheese and one soft one: the Parmigiano-Reggiano wedge plus the brie or the goat cheese. Check the rind and the months before they go in the cart. Add the Coastal cheddar next trip, once you know how fast your household gets through a block.