Freezing Cheese

[DevilNuts]

Hello.

I use alot of block cheese when I cook, but I don't always have room in the fridge to keep it all. Is it okay to put blocks of cheese in the freezer to use at a later date?

Also, if I shred my cheese beforehand and put it in ziplock bags, is that okay to freeze? I don't want to go freezing whole blocks of cheese and then something wierd happens to them and I end up S.O.L.

[Anneke]

NEVER freeze cheese. It alters the texture (via splitting, sweating, becoming mushy) of most, the flavour of many, and it sometimes makes the cheese oil off in cooking. That said, if the cheese is a low quality cheese with lipase and calcium chloride etc which makes it not a real cheese (in my opinion), then go right ahead. We did that a lot at my previous job; I didn't object because, well, it was gross cheese to begin with. (We made a lot of gratins that ended up with an oil slick on top. One of the many reasons I quit!)

Block cheese keeps a good long time in the refrigerator. Just change the wrap regularly, and slice off the moldy bits if they occur. You'll be better off in the end.

As for shredded cheese, because there will be a lot of air in the bag, it will pick up all the flavours of your freezer very quickly.

You should consider getting a cheese buddy to share your large blocks.

[phatch]

Freeze cheese if you're willing to accept the changes in the cheese.

Most brick style cheeses will turn crumbly and melt differently. It's for this reason that real cheese is rare in frozen pizza. But the most common big block cheeses for home use, Cheddar, Mozarella, Swiss and Jack survive freezing acceptably for some uses. Use the thawed cheese in applications where it's crumbliness won't matter and you're generally ok. It usually works fine in cheese sauces usually, as grated bits in mexican food and so on. It's tricky to use in pizza because it's right there for everyone to see on the pizza. The other applications I mentioned hide the cheese, or use the bechamel to help the cheese melt evenly.

[carrot2502]

Never had a problem freezing grated cheddar blocks for use in cheese sauces. No "oil slicks" or flavour loss. In a domestic situation, I always finely grate Parmesan and freeze in 100gram bags, keeps for months!

[TerriH]

Originally Posted by phatch

Freeze cheese if you're willing to accept the changes in the cheese.

Most brick style cheeses will turn crumbly and melt differently. It's for this reason that real cheese is rare in frozen pizza. But the most common big block cheeses for home use, Cheddar, Mozarella, Swiss and Jack survive freezing acceptably for some uses. Use the thawed cheese in applications where it's crumbliness won't matter and you're generally ok. It usually works fine in cheese sauces usually, as grated bits in mexican food and so on. It's tricky to use in pizza because it's right there for everyone to see on the pizza. The other applications I mentioned hide the cheese, or use the bechamel to help the cheese melt evenly.

thanks for the info