Sure go right ahead. A course some folks use "rind" for the wax coating on such cheeses as Edam and Gouda. Yum, Yum, edam up thatsa gooda cheese.You can eat the wax, in the USA at least, the wax has to be rated as edible if not palatable. (N E budy else remember them lil wax bottles with colored sugar water in um? Drink the syrup chew the bottle.) Strictly speaking "rind" is the crust or skin that forms naturally on the outside of some cheeses as they age, cure, or turn into cheese. Usually it's just the same stuff as the cheese itself, just dryer and harder than the rest of the cheese due to exposure to the air. Sometimes, especially with cheeses that traditionally have a rind, a more or less 'artificial' rind is put on smaller pieces of cheese that are cut into "retail" sizes from a larger, more naturally aged piece. That's done just by quickly heating and drying the smaller pieces. Usually the rind is chewier or 'toothier' than the interior and less tasty, sometimes musty, and sometimes it is the 'tastiest' bit. Depends on the cheese and on your likes. But it is edible and "okay." In fact check this out from http://www.wisconsindairyartisan.com/terms.html "Bloomy Rind A descriptive term for an edible cheese rind (crust) that is covered with a harmless, flavor-producing growth of white Penicillium mold. The bloomy rind is formed by spraying the cheese surface with spores of Penicillium candidum mold before curing. Occasionally, brown, pink or red specks are interspersed through the white mold as it ages or cures. " 'Magine that, they actually spray mold onto the cheese. Brie and Camembert have 'bloomy rind.' I like the way Wisconsin assures us that the mold is harmless. In their definition of "rind" they say "Cheeses may ... possess rinds that are produced by harmless mold." Apparently a coating produced by harmful mold is not a rind, so don't eat cheese that has a covering of some non-rind substance, you prolly gotta by that at some Speak Cheesy anyway ( Tell um , "notmrjohn sent me, the pass word is 'Swordfish' " , or maybe 'sturgeon' No wait, sturgeon is a kinda doctor.) BTW Some cheese may actually still have some cheese cloth on it, sometimes under the wax. That's supposed to be taken off but some misinformed cheese makers think that makes it look more "artisan made." Some cheeses that have never even been in cheese cloth are passed through a mold made of screen wire that impresses "cheese cloth " marks on the cheese. You can swallow real cheeses cloth, I'd try to chew it up real good though. One of my dogs ate a pair of panty hose once and... well.. it wasn't much of a mess, all neatly packaged even if it was a kinda long drawn out process at the time. But anyway, eat all the cheese rind ya want. Now 'scuse me I'm gonna go make me a Bologna Casing, Cheese Rind, and Bread Wrapper Sandwich. Hummm do I want Mayonnaise or Mustard Label? I do know I want Potato Chip Bag on the side.

The rind on most cheeses is edible. Smoked cheese usually has a brown rind on it, which we can eat. The edible rind is a natural part of Brie cheese. If you are pregnant it's best you avoid goat cheese and rind.

http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/4220088