Can I freeze this good cheese w/out ruining it?

[onrushpam]

I intended to serve this on Thanksgiving, but our guest arrived late and we decided to skip the noshes... I'd like to save it for guests who are arriving in a couple of weeks. I know it won't last that long w/out freezing. Will it be ruined if I wrap it well and freeze for only 2 weeks?

Edited November 27, 2010 by onrushpam (log)

[IndyRob]

I've had good luck freezing cheese. I don't detect any difference upon thawing. The cheese I freeze isn't special though. I buy 5lb bags of shredded for around $2/lb (it's twice that at the grocery). I rebag it into three or four portions and keep one in the fridge and the others in the freezer. As I empty the bag in the fridge, I move a bag from the freezer to the fridge.

Edited November 27, 2010 by IndyRob (log)

[onrushpam]

Sorry, I meant to include the description of this cheese:

It's from our local, well regarded cheesemakers. They describe it as:

A Camembert-style bloomy-rinded cheese

It's a small wheel, somewhat akin to brie.

[cdh]

It will survive two weeks in the fridge without any problems. Don't freeze it.

[xxchef]

Like cdh said, It really should be OK for 2 more weeks unless it is already getting over-ripe.

Camembert-style cheeses are living foods. The molds and bacteria need to breath or you'll end up with a dead, ammoniated mess. Hopefully it was properly packaged when you bought it and you can simply re-wrap it, and put it in safe place in the fridge and be good-to-go.

If it came wrapped in a non-breathable plastic wrap or something similar wrap it in parchment or waxed paper then over-wrap with aluminum foil.

If you really want to baby this cheese you might consider continuing the affinage that it probably received at the store and certainly got where it was made. This should entail nothing more at this point than turning it over ever few days to keep the moisture evenly distributed throughout the pate.

Since the cheese is local you could also just call the cheese maker up and ask them what they recommend.

Good luck!

[onrushpam]

They recommend using it w/in 2 weeks of purchase, which means we need to eat it in the next few days. They have told me it's okay to freeze their soft, chevre and tub cheese. I guess we'll eat this one and I'll get another for our guests.

[LindaK]

If it's only 2 weeks, I wouldn't freeze it either. But once I found myself with several whole small cheeses, italian robiola due latte, that I knew I would never use in a short time--so I froze them and used them over several months. They were surprisingly okay, flavor still good, texture a little soft but not mushy. It wouldn't plan for it, but it beat throwing them out.