Have you been storing your cheese all wrong?

Morning Glory

Morning Glory

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Wrapping your cheese in clingfilm before storing it in the fridge could be making it go off more quickly, according to new advice from experts. The Good Housekeeping Institute (GHI) says cheese is best kept wrapped in waxed paper as this "strikes the right balance between stopping the cheese from drying out and preventing too much moisture from building up.” But how many of us have waxed paper to hand?

They also advise against storing all types of cheese in the fridge, citing advice from the experts at cheesemonger Paxton & Whitfield who say hard cheeses can be store in any room with a constant temperature of 8-15°C. Soft cheeses, on the other hand, needed to be refrigerated at 5-8°C.

They went on to add that cheeses stored in the fridge such as Brie or mozzarella should be kept in the salad drawer as they thrive best in a moderately humid environment: "The salad drawer is actually the best place in the fridge to store it, as it retains just enough moisture.

How do you store cheese? Do you automatically put it in the fridge?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/news/have-storing-cheese-wrong/
 
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My father always had a hunk of cheese in our refrigerator that was off limits to anyone else. Unless, of course, you were with him at night, and then he would happily share it with you. But you didn't dare touch it otherwise.

He would buy a huge chunk o cheese, usually cheddar, then proceed to eat a few slices each night as a snack with some mustard, onions, and a beer to wash it down. Then he would wrap it in cling film and aluminum foil and put it back in the fridge.


The funny part was that you could almost tell the age of the cheese by how many layers of cling film were on the remaining chunk. He would re-wrap the cheese with what he used before, but then added another layer each time to make sure it stayed fresh, with the final outer shells of foil, reused to the point where it was falling apart.

I don't ever recall him throwing any cheese away, though. I guess his method must have worked in some way.

We weren't very wealthy, so throwing away food would have been a double sin.
 
I either keep it in the original bag or put it in a zip lock bag.

Now as to waxed paper, I have at least 4 rolls. It was my grandmother's. I use it on a regular basis.
 
I used to wrap cheese in plastic, but a year or two ago I changed my wrapping ways. I now use either waxed paper, something we've always had on hand to wrap lunch sandwiches, or parchment paper. I've found that a wrap of parchment, followed by a loose plastic over-wrap, to be very effective if it's a cheese I want to keep for a while. If it's one I'll need again in a few days, the parchment seems to suffice. We also have a narrow drawer in our refrigerator, nested between two produce drawers. It' very convenient for cheese. If it's full, I know it's time I stopped buying cheese for a while!
 
We always have loads of cheese here.

I buy cheddar in 1kg blocks and always have Parmesan on hand.

The Parmesan lives in a plastic container & occasionally is accompanied by some pecorino or other hard cheese.

The cheddar is placed inside a plastic bag & stored in the cheese specific storage area on the door of the fridge.

We use it so fast there's no chance of spoilage.
 
We go through quite a bit of cheese, too. If I have bits and pieces of various kinds, I'll just go ahead and grate them all, then make a very tasty cheese sauce for macaroni and cheese. If hubby says "this is good - can you make it again?" I know I'm doomed.
 
Lynne Guinne said:
We go through quite a bit of cheese, too. If I have bits and pieces of various kinds, I'll just go ahead and grate them all, then make a very tasty cheese sauce for macaroni and cheese. If hubby says "this is good - can you make it again?" I know I'm doomed.
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We made pimento cheese from several leftover cheeses.
 
morning glory said:
Wrapping your cheese in clingfilm before storing it in the fridge could be making it go off more quickly, according to new advice from experts. The Good Housekeeping Institute (GHI) says cheese is best kept wrapped in waxed paper as this "strikes the right balance between stopping the cheese from drying out and preventing too much moisture from building up.” But how many of us have waxed paper to hand?

They also advise against storing all types of cheese in the fridge, citing advice from the experts at cheesemonger Paxton & Whitfield who say hard cheeses can be store in any room with a constant temperature of 8-15°C. Soft cheeses, on the other hand, needed to be refrigerated at 5-8°C.

They went on to add that cheeses stored in the fridge such as Brie or mozzarella should be kept in the salad drawer as they thrive best in a moderately humid environment: "The salad drawer is actually the best place in the fridge to store it, as it retains just enough moisture.

How do you store cheese? Do you automatically put it in the fridge?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/news/have-storing-cheese-wrong/
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I'm sorry but I'm going to call 'foul' on that one! Cheese is made using live cultures (molds, in effect) that thrive in warm, damp conditions. If you put it in the fridge you are going to suppress the reproduction of those cultures, thus prolonging it's life. Surface mold on cheese is fine (as long as it's white or green), just scrape it off and enjoy. Wrapping cheese in any impermeable material - clingfilm, zip lock bags etc. will keep it moist - not a problem if it's in the fridge, although some cheeses will sweat.

How is keeping cheese in a salad drawer to keep it moist any different to wrapping it in clingfilm? Salad drawers always puzzle me. Food safety guidelines state that raw meat should be kept on the bottom shelf of the fridge so that potentially harmful juices cannot drip onto other food. Yet what is directly below the bottom shelf in most fridges - the salad drawers! I cant think of anywhere less suitable to store cheese.

This article has all the hallmarks of lazy journalism.
 
I tend to keep soft cheeses such as brie or camembert outside the fridge to allow them to reach perfectly runny stage!
 
epicuric said:
I'm sorry but I'm going to call 'foul' on that one! Cheese is made using live cultures (molds, in effect) that thrive in warm, damp conditions. If you put it in the fridge you are going to suppress the reproduction of those cultures, thus prolonging it's life. Surface mold on cheese is fine (as long as it's white or green), just scrape it off and enjoy. Wrapping cheese in any impermeable material - clingfilm, zip lock bags etc. will keep it moist - not a problem if it's in the fridge, although some cheeses will sweat.

How is keeping cheese in a salad drawer to keep it moist any different to wrapping it in clingfilm? Salad drawers always puzzle me. Food safety guidelines state that raw meat should be kept on the bottom shelf of the fridge so that potentially harmful juices cannot drip onto other food. Yet what is directly below the bottom shelf in most fridges - the salad drawers! I cant think of anywhere less suitable to store cheese.

This article has all the hallmarks of lazy journalism.
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I tend to put meats in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator. Much easier to clean a drawer than the entire refrigerator. But I typically don't store meat in the refrigerator. I keep it in the freezer and get out what I need on a daily basis.
 
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