Cheese

Cheese is milk that was made to keep before there were refrigerators, and the harder and saltier it is, the truer that still is. A wheel of cheddar or parmesan is months of fat and protein; a tub of ricotta is a week. This page is the fridge kinds. The long-storage case, waxed wheels and the hard cheeses that ride out an outage, is on the hard cheese page.

For keeping: cheddar, parmesan, gouda, swiss, gruyere, the hard and semi-hard kinds, in a block or a wheel, not pre-shredded (shredded is coated with starch, dries out and molds faster). Vacuum-sealed blocks keep unopened for months. Soft cheeses, cream cheese, ricotta, brie, fresh mozzarella, are for eating this week. Processed slices and shelf-stable cheese spreads keep well sealed but are a different food. Powdered cheese from the long-term suppliers keeps for years and is for sauces.

Wrap cut cheese in parchment or wax paper, then loosely in plastic or a zip bag, so it can breathe without drying; plastic alone makes it sweat and mold. The cheese drawer or the back of the fridge, not the door. Freeze hard cheese in half-pound pieces, wrapped tight; it comes back crumbly, which is fine for cooking and poor for slicing. Soft cheese freezes for cooking only. A wheel that will sit for months in a cool cellar can be dipped in cheese wax; that is the hard cheese page.

On hard cheese, a spot of mold is surface mold: cut an inch around and below it with a knife that does not touch the mold, and the rest is fine. On soft, shredded, sliced or crumbled cheese, mold means the whole thing goes, because it spreads through the moist interior. Slime, a strong ammonia smell, or a pink or black cast on a soft cheese means it is done. Dry, cracked edges on a hard block are a texture problem, not a safety one.

Hard cheese is the protein and fat that makes beans and bread into a meal, grated over rice, melted into soup, or eaten in slices with jerky and crackers from the bag. A pound of cheddar is about 1,800 calories and 100 grams of protein. Parmesan rinds go into the soup pot. Powdered cheese and a little water or oil is a sauce for pasta from the bucket.

The field guide keeps hard cheese on the safe list after an outage: a block of cheddar or parmesan that warmed for a day is still cheese, and a little oil on the surface wipes off. Soft cheese, cream cheese, ricotta, fresh mozzarella and anything shredded follow the dairy rule: two hours above 40°F and out they go. Eat the soft cheese first, let the hard cheese wait.

Shelf-life figures are from the Survival Foods field guide; fridge, freezer and pantry times are from the USDA cold and pantry storage charts. Run the look, smell, taste check before eating anything past its date.