I'd like to take you back to a very dark time in my life. It was a day I hope I'll never have to repeat again. As I remember it, it was a fairly warm day. Time Magazine had named German Chancellor Angela Merkel as its 'Person of the Year' and McDonalds had just opened it's first stand alone coffee kiosk, McCafe.
It was December 9th, 2015. The day I had to sacrifice an entire block of cheese to the research and development lab in my house. The kitchen.
I love cheese. I'd say it's the kind of love that a lot of people would call "unnatural", but heh, there's no such thing as an unnatural love of cheese. No matter how great your love of cheese it is NOT unnatural. And don't let anyone tell you any differently. I used to do commentary in the middle of The Jerry Springer Show so I'm pretty well versed in cheese. Jerry and his band of chair throwing curiosities came upon a bit of a stumbling block one episode. This one show in particular, was titled, "I Married My Horse". It was about a man. Who married his horse.
After a bit of a stink, some hoopla, and several lawyers the show was banned for airing.
Had that show been titled "I Married My Cheese" I'm sure we'd all have been a lot more understanding.
But I had to sacrifice an entire block of cheddar cheese because I wanted to see if wrapping it in different materials would have any affect on how long it could be stored before going mouldy.
They actually sell "cheese paper" for wrapping cheese but that shit's pricey. So I figured I'd take every method of wrapping cheese I could find on the Internet and give them all a shot.
I cut my block of cheese into 4 equal sections and wrapped each of them a different way.
- In plastic wrap.
- In tin foil.
- In wax paper which was then put inside a plastic bag.
- In wax paper alone.
Each of these methods has an advantage and a disadvantage.
- Plastic wrap keeps cheese from drying out but also traps in moisture which makes mould growth faster and easier.
- Tin Foil is doesn't wrap as tightly as plastic wrap slowing mould growth.
- Wax paper allows the cheese to breathe therefore reducing moult growth, plus allowing gasses that build up and can alter the taste of your cheese, to escape. Putting the wax paper wrapped cheese in a plastic bag that isn't entirely sealed will help keep it from drying out.
- Wax paper alone allows the most breathing and will therefore reduce the growth of mould. BUT cheese is more likely to dry out.
Now, as far as I'm can tell any of these methods will work just fine if you only want to store your cheese for a week. But what if you want it to last a few weeks? Even a month? What then?
So on December 1st I packaged all of the cheese up, stuck it in the back of the fridge and forgot about it.
When you handle cheese you aren't supposed to touch it with your bare hands because of the bacterial carry over. You're supposed to use surgeons gloves.
Since I'm not insane and assume you aren't either, I just touched the cheese with my fingers like a normal person would when wrapping it up.
On February 8th I unwrapped my science experiment to very surprising results.
Here's how they fared.
- Wax Paper alone - Grew absolutely NO mould at all. But was as hard as a brick. This cheese was now a weapon.
- Wax Paper in plastic - This cheese grew a fair amount of mould and a lot of it pretty deadly looking.
- Tin Foil - Cheese wrapped in tin foil grew what seemed to be mostly surface mould and a lot of it.
- Plastic Wrap - Grew the least amount of mould (other than the wax paper wrapped cheese) over a 2 month period.
But the most surprising thing about this experiment was the OTHER side of the cheese. The side that was actually touching the shelf of the fridge. The bottom of it.
The underside of all the cheeses had far less mould growth than the top of it.
It would seem this could have to do with three things. Light/temperature/air. The underside of the cheese was pressed flat against a dark, cold surface that would keep more air out than the top of the cheese. The glass shelf of the fridge would be slightly colder than the actual air and conduct more cold. Since my fridge is a glass front fridge, with a light on inside of it 24 hours a day (LED light) the cheese in wax paper and plastic wrap would be subjected to a certain amount of light all day.
I have no idea which or which combination of things created the almost mouldless underside of the cheeses, all I know is that it happened.
Breaking open the cheeses all of them looked the same. Mouldless.
HOWEVER you can't see mould until it's gone completely haywire. So just because you can't see mould inside hard cheese doesn't mean it isn't there.
Mould grows inside hard cheeses through little branches from the surface inwards and they tend to extend slightly less than an inch.
So if you had a big block of cheese with mould on it, it's recommended that you cut off 1" all around the mould. If your cheese is only 1" thick, like mine here, you're out of luck.
If your cheese only has mould on the cut end though, you're perfectly safe to just cut off an inch worth and eat it. Not the mouldy inch, the rest of the cheese.
And let's face it. We've all taken a hunk of mouldy cheese and cut off all the mould and then eaten the little sliver left inside during a moment of cheese craving weakness.
I know right now there are several of you getting ready to type "It's fine! You're just eating penicillin!" so let me cut you off right now. Penicillin mould is a bright blue/green mould that came off a cantaloupe in the 40's. That's what penicillin is made of. You can in fact grow your own Penicillin but it's grown on bread or citrus peels, not Kraft Cheddar Cheese.
Since this isn't a post about making your own Penicillin I won't go into it further but suffice it to say, much like puff pastry, there are some things you should probably just buy pre-made.
The results of my cheese experiment? I'm not really sure. I guess plastic wrap looks like the best option, which is funny because it's the #1 way most people advise against.
By comparing these 4 methods I'll probably just continue to store my cheese the way I always have. In my stomach.
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I have successfully kept extra blocks of cheese in the freezer, but some types do degrade in that they crumble when you try to slice them. The best method I have heard of is to rub a little oil on the open surface of cheese, then reapply after cutting a piece. If any mould grows, it is on the oil itself and not the cheese.
I'd actually be even more interested in research about WHAT KIND OF EFFING PERSON KEEPS HER EFFING CHEESE IN HER FRIDGE FOR MORE THAN A WEEK. Ahem. Do excuse me while I shovel some Brillat-Savarin into my mouth.
With a sliver of Gruyère.
That was very interesting! Thank you for the experiment. I wondered if there was a way to keep cheese for longer. I buy it on sale and for the regular types I grate it and freeze it. I love cheese, all types of cheese. Now I want cheese! :)
Hey Marna, we buy on sale to and so long as you don't open the package it seems to last much longer than it should?!!?!?
Just freeze it - super easy to "shred" after it comes out of the freezer, it just crumbles! Big time saver!!
Perfect! I always use plastic wrap. It works quite well. At least if you don't want to store the cheese for eight weeks. But no cheese would ever last that long in my fridge.
sprinkle a white paper towel (none of those recycled brown things) with regular vinegar. Wrap the piece of cheese in that then over wrap in tinfoil. It should last for months. We are not cheese lovers but I do keep cheese around for adding to the odd dish. With this method, I am not tossing out moldy cheese.
I also use the vacuum food saver for cheese with great success. That allows me to protect chunks of Grana Padano. We go through a maximum of two wedges per year (Costco size) mostly for caesar salads or pasta. I split each wedge into 4 or 5 smaller pieces and vacuum seal each separately.
I bet that had you not touched the cheese with your bare hands, the results would have been different. It truly does make a difference between how long cheese will last without molding.
I tend to just leave as much of the orginal packaging on, then toss the cheese into a ziploc bag. Lasts for weeks and weeks.
That's exactly what I do. I Druze all of the air possible out of the ziplock bag before I seal it. I'm weirdly talented at almost getting a vacuum seal on the cheese as I squeeze out all the air.
Oh you're probably right Cheryl. But, we all touch cheese when we use it so it didn't make sense for me to not touch it. I've often wanted to do an experiment when I put one fingerprint on a piece of cheese and see if that's where it gets contaminated. ~ karen!
Hey...that would be very interesting...maybe you should try it...
If you leave the original packaging on the cheese, then just peel down and holding the plastic cut or grate, you don't have to touch the cheese.
Having said that the best storage for long term freshness is Tupperware.
Cheese lasts long enough to grow mold? We did this in Microbiology (a million years ago) with startling results. Touched our unwashed, washed with water, washed with soap hands onto agar plates and then incubated them. Pretty much all were various stages of gross. My takeaway was don't touch the food to be stored with my hands. Cheese is part of my locarb diet plan so I buy the block of Havarti @ Costco about every 2 weeks and now also the English Coastal Cheddar at TJ's, leave the original wrap on and snuggle it into a ziplock bag.
Karen thanks for your untiring research on questions I've wondered about but never really had the time to research. This article was interesting to me because I never really thought about the fact that the Chinese don't eat cheese:
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160125-why-some-cultures-love-the-tastes-you-hate?ocid=ww.social.link.email
I am going to try brown paper. Maybe less light getting through would be a good thing. I think muslin would be good also. That's what we use to wrap ham bone in and it makes me feel all "Little House on the Prairie".
Maybe dampened muslin.?
I went through a phase of wrapping anything that was wrapped in plastic, in a piece of muslin first, so the plastic didnt touch the food. I soon got over that. But I do like the idea of cheese lasting a long time in the fridge.
At the moment, I have cut up camembert and feta and only keep small bits in the fridge and the rest in the freezer, but it is annoying.
My berry favourite cheese is grilled Haloumi. Yum, that's what my dinner will be tonight with a mango and some broccoli. Thanks for the inspiration Karen.
Hi Cynthia!
I've never attempted to freeze Feta. Interesting.
Coming from a greek house, though, I can tell you that storing it covered in salt water (brine) keeps feta long.
My mom use to buy a huge block from our local greek shop, cut it into smaller serving size blocks, and simply pull out one piece at a time. She also asked the merchant to give her a bag of the brine that came with the feta itself. May have been a magical brine or something... Lol
I rinse the feta before putting it on the plate cuz it sometimes feels a little soft around...
I feel a cheese craving coming on!
Thank you for your sacrifice in the interests of science. That's the sacrifice of putting cheese anywhere other than your mouth / stomach. I think i"ll just keep buying it in consumable amounts.
Meantime, you need to amend the first paragraph of your post - "...and McDonalds had just opened it’s first stand alone coffee kiosk, McCafe" by adding "here". Down here in Australia we've had them for YEARS! (In fact we invented the concept!)
I too have been on a quest to ditch the cheese mold. What works best for me is to wrap the cheese thoroughly in a white paper towel or two and then place the whole thing in a ziploc baggie. I have had great success with this method.
Same! Somehow mostly leaving it in the plastic it came in, with a plain paper towel folded loosely over the cut end, in a ziplock bag = no mold. I can't vouch for the age of my cheeses, but I think Karen's lighted fridge interior might contribute to the rate of growth?
Solution: Eat more cheese :)
LOL that's how we solve this problem in my house. Plowing through vast quantities of solid dairy delights.
I enjoy different varieties of cheese as well & I find the soft ones last the longest. Did you ever try the Abeego beeswaxed wraps...I just went on the internet & found it was one of your past posts that mentions Abeego!
Sorry Karen, I wrote the above before all your replies came in...
My favourite is an organic cheddar from the Health Food store...once opened I put it into a ziplock bag...it doesn't last very long as it is so good, it's gone before it has a chance to get mouldy!!
Yes, and it's good for storing cheese for a week, or two at most. It's great actually. But anything longer than that and the cheese goes hard like it did with the wax paper. ~ karen!
If you could find out what is so special about cheese paper, you could try to find or make something similar that would be cheaper. When I buy cheese, it's packaged in plastic, so I'm not surprised it worked well. Are we assuming that the mold comes from the cheese itself? Or from spores in the air? Won't you feel silly if the spores come from your non-gloved hands?
Cheese isn't supposed to actually be wrapped in plastic though because it doesn't allow any air to pass through. Cheese paper is actually most similar to wax paper. Something that protects the cheese, but allows it to breathe and lets the gases escape. So, it's like a really high end wax paper basically. ~ karen!
I wonder if parchment paper would work well?
The big cheese, ha ha, manufacturers seal their products in heavy plastic and often the "best before" dates are 6 months away! However, once opened and the air gets in, that date goes out the window. Maybe there's a difference between big commercially produced cheese and the smaller artisanal cheese makers?
In France they just leave it out on the counter so you don't forget to keep eating it - when I lived there that's what I did - now I don't and forgetting about it makes it moldy
The best way to store cheese is the foodsaver vacuum sealer. You put the cheese in these plastic bags and then into the foodsaver machine which sucks the air out of the bag and seals it. I have kept cheese for months no mould. I also use it for freezing meats as the frost doesn't build up inside the bag.
Now that is the only healthy and safe way to store cheese for longer than a couple of weeks! Thank you, Shirlee!
We use the vacu- sucker technique too. It's a pain if you intend to eat that chunk but works a treat for long term storage.
Yes, I have Foodsaver Shirlee and I love it! LOVE IT. And I do in fact use it for storing cheese I only use once in a while in large chunks, like pizza cheese. But for something like cheddar or a regular mozzarella that we all pull out of the refrigerator every few days it just needs to be something that you can easily unwrap and wrap back up. That's the sort of thing I'm experimenting with. ~ karen!
I use the mason jar attachment with my vacuum sealer - a wide mouth mason jar can hold a good chunk of cheese, is resealable and doesn't result in plastic waste. The mason jar attachment is one of my favourite things.
LOVE the foodsaver for this. We buy cheese in bulk (usually at Costco), then cut it into smaller pieces and vacuum seal it for the freezer. Then we can just take a chunk out to eat in a reasonable amount of time. This works best for hard cheeses, obviously; low water content is best. Don't freeze your Brie! :)
Well, my cheese doesn't last long enough to grow mould... thankfully. Although there are many who will benefit from your experiment and findings. :)
Have a wonderful week, Karen.
A wonderful week? Where are you going? I'll see you here on Wednesday. ;) ~ karen!
I have heard that's a Gouda way of storing it as well.
ba-da-bum lol
Somewhere I remember a suggestion of soaking a cotton cloth in vinegar and wrapping cheese inside to prevent mould growth.
I've heard that option too.
The vinegar cloth works. When my parmesan starts going iffy, I trim it & wrap it in a vinegar soaked cloth, then put it in a plastic bag. Keeps for months. Works with other cheese too, but that gets eaten faster.
And parmesan rinds in a soup are wonderful by the way. No cheesy taste, just richness.
I've read of the vinegar thing too-does it taste of vinegar at all? Would be great if it worked, given the price of Parmigiano-Reggiano
I use cider vinegar and don't notice any residual flavour. At $20 for a lump of parmesan, I'm *&)&)*&) if I'm throwing it away!
Hmmm... what about wax paper and then tin foil? I might need to try this, but I'll have to hide it from my husband. No cheese is safe with him around. If I manage to get it done I'll post the results.
This is how my Mum does hers and it really works well for long term storage.
May I suggest a secondary experiment with waxing the cheese. Dipping it in melted wax is supposed to be the best.
Weird. How does that work? You just cut off a chunk when you want it and then cut the wax off? Might be a fun little experiment. I also meant to mention that I also store my cheese in my Beeswax sandwich wraps which works great, but not for long term storage (over 2 weeks) because the cheese hardens. ~ karen!
If you did the cheese waxing, you would henceforth be known as Karate Karen.... (wax on, wax off)
Thanks for your research.
My mum used to leave the cheese in the package, except for the cut end which she would put a thin scraping of butter on before rewrapping the cheese
I just quickly looked it up and it looks like this type of cheese storage is more for things like ... Armageddon, lol. I am going to order those cheese papers so I can test them out for everyone though. :) ~ karen!
The cheese bags they sell online are worthless, FYI. They're just waxed brown paper, is all.