How to freeze cheese
Wrongly, many people think that cheese is not a product that can be frozen. Cheese not only can, but should definitely be frozen! First of all, it’s very convenient to always have cheese on hand at home, and secondly, when frozen, the cheese retains its flavor qualities perfectly and does not spoil at all.
I suggest taking just 15 minutes of your time and freezing hard cheese in three ways: chunks, slices, and grated cheese.
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- General.\Active. Cooking time: 2 hours 15 minutes \ 15 minutes
- Number of servings: 10 servings
- Calorie content (100g): 363 kcal
- Cost: very economical
What is mozzarella
Traditionally mozzarella is made from black buffalo milk and is called mozzarella di bufala and has a rich, salty taste. It is very difficult to find it outside Italy, as it is produced only in its historical homeland. The cheese gets the highest DOP label, which proves that all the traditional techniques and the quality of the product have been followed.
Much more widespread is mozzarella from ordinary cow’s milk. fior di latte (milk flower), it has less saturated, but also very pleasant taste.
Mozzarella is a young cheese, and the fresher it is, the better, it does not keep for long. To get more enjoyment, eat the delicacy better on the day of purchase if the cheese is bought by weight, or immediately after opening the package.
The gastronome’s view Mozzarella combines perfectly with tomatoes, basil and balsamic vinegar and is one of the main ingredients in Italian cuisine. It is often used in all sorts of appetizers, salads, and hot dishes.
Tips for properly freezing cheese
Never use an open container. a bowl or plate. to freeze cheese. Otherwise, the sour milk product will quickly become saturated with extraneous odors. The only exception is for goat cheese. On the contrary, it is not recommended to cover it, because the useful properties will disappear. If stored properly, such a delicacy does not spoil for 3 months.
To prevent blooming, some housewives use ordinary refined sugar. For this purpose, several cubes of pressed sugar are placed in the bag.
General storage rules
To ensure that the cheese mass or hard bar does not go bad, you need to meet a number of conditions when you send it into storage:
- The air should be cool, moist, the best option for temporary storage. a chamber in the refrigerator, the pantry;
- Set the humidity at 85-90%;
- Temperature in the freezer is kept at 0 ° 4 ° C (for some types of cheese), most often in a chamber to store the product at a temperature of 6 ° 8 ° C, less often create softer conditions (for the French varieties);
- It is possible to store the product in the refrigerator, provided it is fully protected against drying out, weathered (for models with the no frost system), it is covered with parchment and the paper edge is fixed with adhesive tape;
- Cheese can be stored in the freshness area, it is not recommended to leave the product in places where it will be exposed to temperature changes, these areas are near the door.
Tip: You can increase the shelf life by soaking the parchment/gauze in salt water, this material is wrapped around a bar, send it for storage.
can i freeze parmesan and keep it in the freezer?
Delicacy cheeses of long maturation, as a rule, are expensive, that’s why the hostesses try to keep the piece left after cooking the dish. A common question is whether you can freeze Parmesan cheese in the freezer? You can. When frozen and defrosted, it hardly loses any of its flavor. The maximum storage time in the freezer is 6 months.
Freezing, but it all depends on the type of cheese. If you often have leftover pieces of unused hard cheese that are clearly no longer suitable for serving fresh, freezing the product is a good way to reduce waste.
When you freeze cheese, it loses moisture and some of its texture, and becomes drier and crumblier when defrosted. Cheese can be kept in the freezer for about 6 months. It is best to put it in the freezer and defrost it for 6-8 hours before using it.
Moulds multiply very quickly, and you should follow a few rules to keep the cheese from getting exposed to them:
- The milk product should be wrapped in a cotton cloth previously soaked in salt water.
- Put the cheese in a dark, cool place.
In any case, this cheese will not last more than 3 days, although the salt prevents the process of molding. Before using the cheese, rinse it out of the salt before using it.
If the cheese begins to go moldy, you can cut off the spoiled part and do not be afraid to eat it.
To prevent the cheese from starting to dry out, it is recommended to store it in two packages: first wrapped in parchment paper, then in a cellophane bag.
Tips for freezing and defrosting cheeses:
- Do not use a pan without a lid for freezing, the cheese may penetrate foreign odors.
- It is necessary to keep in the freezer equal t°.
- Store the cheese better in cubes or grated form, this form is great for cooking almost any dish.
- It is strictly forbidden to defrost dairy products in the microwave.
- It is best to buy varieties without holes, they keep for the longest time.
Ready-made cheese is not stored for a long time, the shelf life in the refrigerator varies from 1 to 2 weeks, depending on the consistency of the product. Low freezing temperatures do affect the shape and flavor of the product, but this is the lesser of two evils, as the shelf life increases by several months.
The hostess should understand that from frozen bars of cheese to cut an even snack is no longer possible. The structure becomes more friable; you won’t be able to slice the product without crumbs anymore.
There are some varieties for which freezing is contraindicated. These are almost all soft varieties of cream cheese and cottage cheese:
- ricotta;
- feta;
- mascarpone;
- bryndza;
- Philadelphia;
- cottage cheeses;
- processed cheese product is not suitable for freezing.
Can I keep cheese in the freezer?
To begin with, cheese can be frozen. Hard and semi-hard varieties lend themselves best to freezing. Soft cheeses are not recommended to freeze because of their high water content. Under the influence of low temperature, it expands and when defrosted, such cheese will lose a lot of liquid, it will become dry and grainy.
These varieties are suitable for freezer storage:
Hard cheeses don’t lose their taste qualities when defrosted and retain almost 100% of their texture and consistency. Semi-hard ones, on the other hand, may crumble a bit. The taste and texture of soft goat cheeses, feta, feta, cream cheese, and the like can deteriorate.
How to Freeze Cheese & Thaw It Out
This method of storage is appropriate if you can not eat a piece of cheese before the expiration date. Or you may just want to stock up on it.
