Cheese paper helps you properly store expensive cheeses, retaining their flavors while keeping them fresh. In most cases, I have no problem cooking for just myself. Instead of allowing fresh vegetables and cuts of meat to go to waste, I make large batches that I can pack for lunches. Living in New York helps, since I always have access to produce shops and can visit them as often as the need arises.

The paper is fun to look at, too. Printed on each sheet is a map of the United States, along with regional cheese specialties. The kit of papers also comes with adhesive labels that you can use to note the region, type, and characteristics of the block of cheese you're wrapping.

The kit comes with 15 sheets measuring 11 inches tall by 14 inches wide and 15 adhesive labels, enough to wrap 30 1/4 pound pieces of cheese. It's available at the Formaticum Web site for $9.

Extend the life of good cheeses by wrapping them in Formaticum cheese papers, made by a company in Portland, Ore.; $8 for a pack of 15 double-ply waxed sheets, 11 by 15 inches each, with labels (enough to wrap up to 30 four-ounce pieces). Maps printed on one side of the paper highlight locations of artisan cheesemakers across the United States. Available at La Cuisine, 323 Cameron St., Alexandria, 703-836-4435, or buy online at http://www.formaticum.com.

Let the cheese breathe

As appliances go, we've always liked refrigerators, so when Oregon cheese retailer Mark Goldman declared them "a hostile environment for cheese," we perked up. Fortunately, Goldman also offers an antidote for keeping excellent cheeses good to the last smidgen. It's called Formaticum Cheese Paper and it's produced in France specifically for cheese which, being a living thing, needs to breathe. Formaticum is a two-ply sheet composed of craft paper with a light wax coating on one side glued to an ultra-thin sheet of breathable polyethylene to keep the cheese from "suffocating" in its "plastic-wrap coffin." Hey, Goldman calls 'em as he sees 'em. Each package of 15 (11-by-14-inch) sheets comes printed with a map of his favorite U.S. cheese producers, including Big Woods Blue from Shepherd's Way in Nerstrand, Minn., and Pleasant Ridge Reserve from Uplands Dairy in Dodgeville, Wis. It's available online at www.formaticum.com, or at E's Cheese, 720 Main St., Mendota Heights, and France & 44 Wines and Spirits, 4351 France Av. S., Minneapolis.