How to store cheese at home - at what temperature and in what container

In our article we will talk about how you can keep cheese fresh for a long time in the refrigerator and freezer.

Cheese is a popular product that is included in many dishes and is suitable for a nutritious snack, so housewives often buy it for future use. However, not everyone can store it for a long time. Improper organization of cheese storage, non-compliance with temperature and humidity conditions lead to rapid spoilage of the product, drying out or the appearance of mold.

You can store cheese at home. To do this, be sure to take into account the type and expiration date of the product, and also follow the recommended storage conditions

General rules

There are many types of cheese in the world. Each type of this product has its own recommendations for extending the shelf life, but first I propose to dwell on the basic tips that are equally suitable for all varieties, and also figure out what is the best way to store cheese, how much and at what temperature it can be kept at home .

If you bought an already sliced product packed in cling film, then try to eat it as quickly as possible. The product in this form is not suitable for long-term storage: it does not have access to air and gradually loses its taste. If you leave the cut in the refrigerator for a long time without film, then within a day it will weather and become hard.

In order for the delicacy to remain soft for as long as possible, it is recommended to wrap it at home in food paper before putting it in a plastic bag and in the refrigerator. This will help it retain the necessary moisture.

Cheese, like any dairy product, is recommended to be stored at low temperatures. This way it will not lose its beneficial properties longer. Try to place the product on the middle shelves of the refrigerator. It is better not to put it on shelves installed on refrigerator doors - there it will be exposed to temperature changes.

If you notice mold on a fermented milk product, do not rush to throw it away. As a rule, it is enough to cut off the spoiled piece, and the rest will still be suitable for consumption. This advice applies mainly to hard and semi-soft varieties.

If you purchased cheese that is in its own brine (such as mozzarella), then it must be placed in the refrigerator along with this liquid. Such varieties cannot be stored either in the freezer or separately from the brine.

If you are interested in making fermented milk products yourself, then you should take care to purchase a special cheesecake. It is usually made of ceramic or glass and allows you to maintain an ideal environment for homemade delicacies: a temperature of no higher than 10 degrees and high, about 90%, humidity.

Each cheese goes into its own kozubok

The answer to the pressing question of how to store cheese at home with the maximum amount of vitamins depends on what kind of product we have.

Cottage cheese

If we are talking about cottage cheese, under no circumstances should it be kept in polyethylene - only in an enamel or glass container with a closed lid.

But it doesn’t stay there for long – literally a few days. If you need to save it longer, you can use the freezer. Having defrosted it even after a few months, we will still get the same tasty and healthy product.

Rennet cheeses

Durum rennet varieties are prepared on the basis of live bacterial starter culture. They do not tolerate excessive moisture, so they should be kept in a dry place, wrapped in special cling film and placed in a glass, enamel or porcelain container.

Other hard cheeses

If we are talking about cheese like Adyghe, feta cheese or suluguni, the best option is a stainless steel or enamel pan. In the second case, we make sure that the enamel is intact and undamaged.

Cold storage

Since the main conditions for preserving the taste of cheese are maintaining a relatively low temperature and high humidity, in most cases we keep it in the refrigerator, which allows us to comply with these requirements.

Remember that the ideal conditions for this product are a storage temperature of 5 to 10 degrees and a humidity of 80 to 90%.

In a closed package

Fermented milk delicacies with characteristic aromas are best kept in containers with tight-fitting lids. This will not only allow the product to retain its signature smell, but will also prevent all other products in the refrigerator from becoming saturated with it.

If you do not have a special container, you can use ordinary glass jars, cling foil or film. The main thing is not to forget to first wrap the cheese in soft paper.

Opened

It is recommended to store this delicacy in open containers only if you decide to prepare for a feast in advance and want to put the product in the refrigerator for literally a few hours.

Longer storage in this form will cause the tender slices to harden. In addition, the entire refrigerator compartment runs the risk of becoming saturated with a characteristic aroma.

Note to the hostess: cheese should be served at room temperature. This way its taste characteristics will be revealed to the maximum. Therefore, be sure to remove the finished slices from the refrigerator at least half an hour before your meal.

In the form of slices

The shelf life of store-bought cheese slices is about three days, provided you keep it in the refrigerator.

If you yourself divided the cheese into slices and immediately packed everything securely, then the shelf life can reach up to two weeks.

General recommendations

Hard and soft varieties are best stored on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. Don't put them close to the freezer. They do not like icy cold and the optimal temperature for storing them is not lower than 3 degrees.

Freezing cheeses is not recommended. They will lose their taste.

Cheese should be stored as a whole piece. You shouldn’t grate it or cut it into small pieces in advance, as this will cause it to weather faster.

Different types of cheese should be stored separately.

Constant temperature changes are harmful to cheeses. Therefore, it is better not to store them in the refrigerator door.

Storage outside the refrigerator

Is it possible to keep cheese outside of the refrigerator? Certainly! It is enough to follow the following recommendations.

Prepare a concentrated salt solution in advance and soak a cloth in it, which you then need to wrap the cheese with. Place the product prepared in this way in a dark and cool place and do not forget to moisten the shell daily with fresh saline solution.

Important! You should only use fabric with a natural composition - it will prevent the cheese surface from hardening longer.

Instead of a refrigerator, you can use cold water. It is enough to put the delicacy in a hermetically sealed container and lower it into the ice-cold liquid.

This way you can extend the life of the fermented milk product up to a week.

Please note that only hard varieties can be stored outside the refrigerator. Soft varieties, for example, suluguni or ricotta, are not suitable for such storage.

Some tips for storing cheese

You can extend the shelf life of cheese in the following ways:

Use vacuum or sealed packaging.
In the absence of whey, it is recommended to fill the brine with milk or saline solution.
Use refined sugar to absorb excess moisture. The cube needs to be changed when it gets wet.
The larger the piece, the greater the chance of keeping it fresh. Small ones will dry out very quickly and become covered with a hard crust.
Regulate temperature changes, place on a shelf further from the door.
Store all cheeses strictly by grade.

Shelf life of different types of cheese

Now we will focus on each variety separately.

Durum varieties

These types traditionally include parmesan, grana padano, cheddar, and gruyere. They are the easiest to store. They can be kept in the refrigerator for up to a month, and outside it, subject to high humidity levels, for about a week.

It's best not to cut these cheeses into too small pieces if you plan to keep them in the refrigerator. The natural crust helps these products retain their flavor and protects them from bacteria. It will be enough to remove it immediately before eating.

Soft varieties and cheeses in brine

These types of fermented milk products are not suitable for long-term storage. As a rule, their shelf life when unopened is about two weeks, and after opening the package, the product should be consumed within a couple of days.

You can put a piece of refined sugar in a container with a dairy product to remove excess moisture.

It is not difficult to understand that soft cheese has gone bad: if mold appears on it or you feel a characteristic change in taste, you will have to throw away the delicacy. Due to its texture, such a product allows harmful bacteria and fungi to penetrate deeper without retaining them on the surface. Therefore, eating spoiled food can be dangerous to your health.

Blue cheeses

World-famous fermented milk products with mold are quite delicate when it comes to their shelf life. Even in the refrigerator they should not be kept for longer than 4–5 days. Therefore, I never buy cheeses of this type for future use, but prefer to take a small package, which is enough for a couple of meals.

Do not forget that such a product must be stored in tightly sealed containers to prevent the strong aroma from spreading throughout the refrigerator.

Homemade cheese

Cheese made at home is also not designed for long-term storage. It should be consumed within the first three to four days.

Advantages and disadvantages of freezing in the freezer

You can freeze dairy products, but do not forget the well-known rules:

Hard cheese is cut into thin pieces. Small portions are wrapped in a plastic bag. After all, all defrosted fermented milk product will need to be used immediately. Moreover, it will become suitable only for use in hot dishes.
Parmesan can easily withstand being in the freezer for 1.5-2 months.
The shelf life of paste varieties when frozen increases from a week to several months. But then the cheeses will only be suitable for spreading on pieces of bread.
The quality of soft varieties does not suffer when they are in the freezer. But under one condition - it is in an airtight container so that the original snack is not saturated with odors and is not saturated with moisture.
Blue cheese can also be frozen in store-bought packaging.
The grated dairy product is placed in a plastic bag and wrapped tightly so that there is no air. It is not defrosted, but used for preparing hot dishes.

Which cheeses are best not to store together?

The fermented milk delicacy not only has a specific smell, but also, due to its porous texture, is able to quickly absorb the aromas of the products that are located next to it. To avoid such mixing, I advise you to store different varieties separately from each other.

Ideally, each piece should be individually wrapped in cling paper and film. This will allow the fermented milk product not to spread its aroma to other products and not to absorb their odors.

Soft and hard varieties should not be placed together. They have different expiration dates and storage requirements.

How to preserve cheese at home

Storing homemade cheese is an art, the subtleties of which need to be studied as carefully as the recipe. Not only the taste of the product, but also its benefits ultimately depend on this.

Since homemade cheese, unlike store-bought analogues, does not contain artificial preservatives, you need to be especially careful in observing the temperature regime and monitoring the moisture content in the air.

To determine how to preserve homemade cheese longer, you need to take into account the specifics of its preparation technology and specific characteristics.

Freezing cheese

Is it possible to freeze cheese? Yes! Is it worth doing? It's up to you to decide, but experts do not recommend doing this.

Of course, by freezing food, we preserve it for a long time, but what happens to the taste and texture?

When frozen, dairy products lose their natural structure and do not restore it during subsequent defrosting.

This causes the cheese to become brittle. It cannot be cut into neat slices, but can only be used for sprinkling ready-made dishes.

Freezing will inevitably affect the taste of this fermented milk product.

Soft and salty varieties

Soft cheeses should not be stored for a long time; they are recommended to be consumed within 4 days. For example, processed cheese curds begin to dry out almost immediately after opening. It is also unacceptable to eat soft cheeses with mold.

Salty varieties include mozzarella, Adyghe cheese, feta cheese, feta cheese, and suluguni. These cheeses (also called pickled cheeses) are stored in airtight containers with their own whey, which allows them to maintain their softness and special taste for a long time. In such conditions, the shelf life of cheese can be extended to 3 months. To remove salt from the product, you need to cut it into pieces and then soak it in milk or cold boiling water for about 8 hours.