How to keep better cheese[
To store cheese and keep it fresh longer, you have to follow some easy rules to preserve taste and aroma. Our suggestions will help you avoid waste and preserve the cheese as long as possible without losing its flavor. You can apply these rules to preserve our sheep’s and goat’s cheeses and all kind of cheese.
First you need to understand what are the enemies of cheese. In general we can say that the main enemies of the cheese are 4:
– Drying: Without the right humidity, the cheese dries out losing all its properties
– The lack of air: Cheese keeps better if it can breathe.
– Too cold: alters the organoleptic properties.
– Too hot: increases chance of fermentation and perishability.
To keep your cheese in the right way you need a place with a constant temperature between 10° and 15°C, humidity and air. What kind of place has these features with an optimal temperature, ventilation and humidity suitable preservation of the cheese? Of course the cellar. Exactly the cellar is the ideal place to store the cheese.
If you are not lucky enough to have a cellar to store your cheese you just need a solution, undoubtedly the most popular solution: Store the cheese in the fridge.
Beware: the fridge dry out the cheese, you can store cheese in the fridge, but you have to keep in mind some important tips and know what you should never do.
The best way to keep cheese
1. Store the cheese at the right temperature
How to store cheese? The first rule to remember is keep it at the right temperature to maintain product quality. First we have to make a distinction: fresh cheeses should be placed in the coldest part of the fridge (2° to 4 °C), aged cheeses in the warmest part of the fridge (8° and 10°) while all the other kind of cheese in the middle part of the fridge at 6° and 8 °. The important thing is that the cheese must never suffer temperature changes.
2. Never use the plastic wrap
One of the most common mistakes in the preservation of cheese is wrap it with plastic wrap, or place it in direct contact with the plastic. In this way you “suffocate” the cheese preventing it from breathing. In addition, the cheese is made mostly from oils and fats that in a short time will absorb the flavor of the plastic.
3 Store cheese in paper
For more or less aged cheese the best solution is to keep them in food paper. The paper is porous and protects the cheese from exposure to air, but at the same time allows him to breathe. Remember to replace it every time you consume the cheese.
For fresh and soft cheese you can use food paper or parchment paper and then store them in an airtight container. The paper creates a barrier between cheese and plastic and allow the cheese to breathe, the container prevent it from drying out. Fresh cheeses must be consumed in a short time.
4 Alternatively, use a wet cloth
You can keep cheese by covering it with a slightly damp cloth, very good to keep the right moisture and make the cheese breathe. But remember always that cheese keep better if it can breath.
5 Remove the cheese from the fridge 2 hours before serving
In order for the cheese preserves all its flavor and its taste remember to remove it from the refrigerator an hour or two before serving and bring it back to room temperature. You can dry it with a cloth or kitchen paper. This practice is especially useful if the cheese is vacuum-sealed. The vacuum-sealed is not a good solution because cheese does not breathe but can increase its conservation.
6 Do not freeze the cheese
The cheese should never be frozen for subsequent thawing will alter the structure of the dough and it will compromise the taste and smell.
7 Although packaged, keep the cheese away from vegetables
Although packaged, cheeses must not remain in contact with unwashed vegetables and legumes, as this could cause bacterial contamination.
8 Separate different types of cheese
To best preserve different types of cheese you will have to keep separate them. Different cheeses must never be in contact with each other, preferably stored in separate containers, always maintaining the correct aeration.
9 If mold appears on the cheese
If you see some mold on your cheese does not scare you, just remove the first slice. If you see mold on the crust of fresh cheeses use a kitchen sponge and warm water and allow to dry at room temperature. If mold appear on the crust of ripe cheese or semi-mature, rub the crust with a little of olive oil and let dry.
Learn more about Podere il Casale Raw Milk Cheese
Why raw-milk cheeses are better?
