Anyone know how to store cheese?

[housemouse]

We do like cheese, and know that it can be bought by the wheel. I have never frozen cheese, because all the books say it ruins the texture.

I wonder how people used to store the wheels of cheese before refrigeration. And, after one cuts a section of the cheese, how to store it until ready for the next wedge?

I seem to remember something about cloths soaked in vinegar, but thought I would ask here, since I am sure someone will know what the best method might be. Cheese is a good thing to be able to store, right?

 

[goatlady2]

I have a friend who has been making both cow and goat milk hard cheeses for about 4 years now and selling the very well indeed. She freezes her wheels and has experience absolutely no change in texture or flavor when defrosted. Keep in mind she does not use any additives, just milk and culture. She gets $7 a pound and over for her cheese and has lots of regular, repeat customers. No complaints so far. The vinegar soaked cloth wrap was a deteremt to mold and fungus on the edge of the cheese. The longer a cheese sits after it has been cut the drier it gets. You can always cut the mold off and eat the clear part that's left.
Not knowing your living situation, I am planning on storing my cheese "on the hoof" so to speak. I'll just make a fresh batch when I start getting low.

 

[Satanta]

you can pickle cheese but it changes the flabor some.

 

[Dennis Olson]

A heavy wax coating will keep cheese for years. The trick is to make sure no moisture or air is under the wax layer. Also, you can "can" it.

 

[Satanta]

Dennis-won't that melt it?

I have one of those vacuum sealers and just learned to seal jars with it,,,maybe something along those lines?

 

[Freeholdfarm]

The only kind of cheese I've frozen is cheddar (other than shredded -- I've frozen shredded mozzarella), and while the flavor doesn't change, the texture does. It doesn't slice well after it has been frozen as it is too crumbly. But it is still good for any cooking use, or crumbled onto a salad.

Kathleen

 

[It'sJustMe]

I preserved some cheese a few years ago. You wrap your cheese with clean cheesecloth, dipped in distilled vinegar. Make sure everything is as clean as possible, including your hands, and work surfaces. Wring the damp cheesecloth out and wrap around the desired cheese. We did cheddar and mozzarella. I did two layers of cheesecloth. Meanwhile, have your paraffin melting in your double boiler or coffee can. Be careful, wax is dangerous if you're not used to working with it. A small spill can cause a large fire in no time. Put out clean smooth foil on your counter, to lay the hot cheese on between dippings. Using tongs, carefully dip your wrapped cheese in the melted paraffin to coat. One side at a time, and cool slightly on the waxed paper. re-dip as many times as you need to in order to get a good, thick layer of wax on your cheese. We stored it in a stoneware crock in the cool root cellar for many months, before we finally used it all. Only one ended up having some mold grow on one edge, and we trimmed it off and it was still very tasty. Hope that helps, jacquej. We also canned Velveeta. We still have some of that and it's fine 4 years later! Melt it in a double boiler and carefully place into a oven heated jar, wipe the rim and add a hot lid and ring. Heat the glass jars to 250 degrees for 20 minutes in an oven. It will seal when it cools. IJM

 

[housemouse]

Thanks! You guys are the greatest.

Have a good cheese place near me that is only open in the summer, and will be stocking up when they open.

 

[Todd]

We've stored cheese by freezing for years (swiss and mixed, shredded cheese* for soufles). However, we also vacuum pack it. I wrap the cheese in plastic wrap if it's a brick or bag it if it's shredded, freeze them for a day them vacuum pack it.

We keep stuff for years and it's OK. I will say that the texture of the swiss is a little less "rubbery" ut it's still like fresh.

Todd

*We buy those big bags that have 5 pounds or so from COSTCO.

 

[Dennis Olson]

I don't think you have to "cook" the cheese to can it IIRC. Also, there is a COMMERCIAL canned chees product offered by Kraft. It's in the Archives (I bought a case based on the thread, and love the taste!) It has Arabic writing on it as well as English, because it's shipped to Saudi since refridgeration is problematical there.

Great stuff, and it "ages" in the can, getting sharper as time passes... Yum!

 

[Libertarian]

Ah! Canned cheese. Yum.

My first introduction to it was in c-rats curtousy of Uncle Sm's Army. After that I had it in Saudi and in the Phillipines. I have bought a few cans in the Asian markets since but it is too expensive for my usual fare (read "cheap").

 

[sssarawolf]

To Store Chesse

Put ur chesse on a small wire rack in a glass crock, Pot, or whatever that has a cover to it. Store this over, 2/3 s cup vinegar, 1 tablespoon of salt, slighty diluted with water, remove lid daily.

 

[HoofTrimmer]

With my homemade cheese I used a wax coating. The cheese will keep forever it seems. The only thing I noticed is it gets sharper and sharper with time. This is stored in a cupboard inside the house.

Freezing has always worked wonderfully for us too.

If I were to keep cheese on the shelf even after I've sliced it I would recoat with wax.

HoofTrimmer