Is my fancy cheese still safe to eat? A few weeks ago, I went to Amsterdam and bought several pounds of cheese, including one massive (3 pound) round of Edam.  It was wrapped in wax paper and was told that I could leave it out on cold, shady spot of the counter until it was broken up, at which point I needed to refridgate it.  I left it in the paper for a couple of weeks and imagine my surprise when I went to get a slice and it had what looks like white mold growing on the top.  It has spent only three weeks on the counter and appears to be in a yellow parafin wax (it's got printing on it, so I'm assuming it's wax).

Can I still eat it?  If I wash off the mold, would that make it better?  Should I have put it in the fridge?

If it is edible, how exactly should I store it after it's cut?

I was really looking forward to that cheese.
I believe that if you cut/scrape off the mold the rest  will be fine. 

With a huge chunk of wrapped and refrigerated parmigiano reggiano, for example, I have been scraping it off before grating it for over 18 months now with no ill effects.