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Can You Freeze Cheese?


jackal10

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|I have some cheese left over after a party,

I'm not concerned about the hard cheese - cheddar for example, since that will do well just kept cool,

Its the Brie and the Tallagio that concern me - one whole one of each got forgotten.

Can I freeze them? Wrapped well or vac packed?

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|I have some cheese left over after a party,

I'm not concerned about the hard cheese - cheddar for example, since that will do well just kept cool,

Its the Brie and the Tallagio that concern me - one whole one of each got forgotten.

Can I freeze them? Wrapped well or vac packed?

I vac packed some camembert and froze it and altho the taste seemed ok the texture was a bit weird

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That has been my experience as well: freezing ruins the texture of soft cheese; it doesn't particularly affect the flavor. So the only way I'd freeze soft cheese would be if I planned to use it for melting later on.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Freezing soft cheese pretty much ruins it. Make it into a cheese spread (throw it in a food processor with some white wine, garlic, and some harder cheeses, cubed) and freeze it like that, or find some awesome recipe to use it in.

"A culture's appetite always springs from its poor" - John Thorne

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The problem is you can not freeze the cheese fast enough to keep the texture from changing. It might make for some interesting experiments.

Living hard will take its toll...
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We've frozen brie wheels for use later on in baked-brie dishes, and that works ok - the melting characteristics are a bit different but its not drastic. Make sure its well thawed first tho - and that always takes longer than we expect.

"You dont know everything in the world! You just know how to read!" -an ah-hah! moment for 6-yr old Miss O.

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What is the best way to resurrect frozen mac and cheese. I've been steaming it for best results. Who am I kidding I think I have only frozen mac and cheese once. I have been steaming stuff as opposed to radiation lately though :huh:

"And in the meantime, listen to your appetite and play with your food."

Alton Brown, Good Eats

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I once froze a giant block of Velveeta-ish cheese that Ronald Reagan had thoughtfully provided for my grandmother, who thoughtfully passed it on to me. Not wanting to waste such precious government commodity, I left it perched on a street sign where I'd hoped a homeless person might find it.

I like to bake nice things. And then I eat them. Then I can bake some more.

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I once froze a giant block of Velveeta-ish cheese that Ronald Reagan had thoughtfully provided for my grandmother, who thoughtfully passed it on to me.  Not wanting to waste such precious government commodity, I left it perched on a street sign where I'd hoped a homeless person might find it.

I found it and enjoyed it, Thank You.

"And in the meantime, listen to your appetite and play with your food."

Alton Brown, Good Eats

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What is the best way to resurrect frozen mac and cheese. I've been steaming it for best results. Who am I kidding I think I have only frozen mac and cheese once. I have been steaming stuff as opposed to radiation lately though :huh:

I realizing you're joking, but if you were to vacuum seal mac & cheese, you could probably bring it back up to temp in a water bath the way those Stouffer's creamed chipped beef deals are.

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  • 1 year later...

We received way too many cheese gifts this holiday and I'm wondering if I can freeze them. I would seal them first with my Food Saver. Mostly hard cheeses, other than 1 Brie. What do you think?

*****

"Did you see what Julia Child did to that chicken?" ... Howard Borden on "Bob Newhart"

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The short answer is yes. The long answer is, its not the best for the cheese. Keep in mind that cheese is alive and evolving. Its better to properly wrap it and trim the mold as it comes, but for harder cheeses feel free to freeze. Let me put it a slightly different way. Are these good cheeses? If they are nothing too special, then freeze away. If you want to enjoy them as they should be then keep your more special cheeses in the fridge and enjoy them sooner rather than later.

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I eat cheddar cheese like kids eat candy. Whenever it is on sale, I stock up and freeze it in the original package. Vacuum packed I think. Never had any problem or noticed any difference in flavour or texture.

I did buy some cream cheese on sale once and froze it. Not so good. It tasted ok but had a grainy texture. Not creamed anymore.

Hope this helps.

Bill

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Something happens to the texture when you freeze cheese - I think it's something about the fat and proteins seperating.

“"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"

"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"

"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.

Pooh nodded thoughtfully.

"It's the same thing," he said.”

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