Shelf Life
The good, the bad, the ugly of over-the-hill cheese.
Consider me your personal shopper. No need for you to know a cheese beyond its prime tastes precisely like a wet diaper.
Your nose knows.
Sure, some of my expertise comes from being a cheese professional and operating a decent size cheese shop for years, but a lot of it comes from the cheeses I "get" to take home.
I take home the one piece left of a wheel once referred to as the "orphans" or the very ripe cheeses beyond their best buy dates.
We have talked about best buy dates before, you and I, and you know my thoughts.
I take home the cheeses that… are starting to grow the wrong kind of mold. The blues singing the blues. Pink and green hues all on the outside of the cheese. Who invited them to the party?
Or the camemberts heading out to pasture, and some do have that bold barnyard aroma. Moo.
.
I take them and breathe new life in them.
blue mold good, yellow mold bad
It occurred to me to share a few tips because everything, I mean everything, costs so damn much now. You know that, but I am shocked every day. So I am determined to use up and recycle everything and not waste! Especially a fine cheese investment.
So let's start with mold.
Here's the good:
A cheesemaker's job is to carefully manage the species of good molds added to their cheese. Mold needs to grow in the right place and at the right time to create the flavors and textures we end up loving. Many of our favorite cheeses owe their incredible flavors to the magic of mold. These are 100% safe to eat, like blue cheeses. The party starts with Penicillium roqueforti. Yes his name was on the list. It is the fungus responsible for developing blue cheese's iconic veins and flavor. Or maybe it started like this:
A Legend... The story behind the origins of Roquefort blue cheese has been romanticized in a very old legend of the land. The legend begins with a young shepherd who was minding his flock of sheep in the hills of Roquefort when he suddenly sighted a beautiful maiden in the distance (there's always a maiden somewhere!). Determined to find her, the shepherd left his dog to guard the sheep and hastily placed his lunch – bread and ewe's milk curds – in the nearby caves to keep cool. The shepherd was away for days, looking for his maiden. Unfortunately, he never found her. Dejected, the shepherd returned to his sheep, tired and hungry. When he took his lunch out of the caves, he found that the bread and milk curds were moldy. His hesitation was brief due to his mounting hunger. With some trepidation, the shepherd took a bite and was pleasantly surprised to find that his moldy lunch tasted quite delicious! Thus, the Roquefort was born. (Story compliments of www.thewisegeek.com)
It's a story, but a good one!
Bloomy rind cheeses, bries, and camemberts sorts are made by adding Penicillium candidum, a mold powder. In the right temperature and humidity, the rind starts out velvety soft and white; later, the flavors will become earthy and mushroomy. The texture starts as semi-firm, then becomes softer as it ages from the rind inward, eventually becoming quite soft and gooey. All stages are lovely.
The rind is totally edible and adds texture and flavor to the cheese. Do not be that person; you know who you are, terrified of the moldy rind. You burrow in and dig out only the creamy interior, leaving just the shell like some sort of deflated food balloon. I’ve seen this over and over. Expand your horizons, next time, taste the rind. The rind, as mentioned, has that seductive mushroomy flavor, then combined with cream… well, that's just a yummy thing.
Here's the bad. Well, it's bad, but just cut it away.
Yes, just cut off the mold parts and move on.
If the mold growth is small and shallow, and on a hard cheese like cheddar, use a sharp knife and shave off the mold and the area around it, saving as much of your cheese as possible.
For soft cheese, if the mold is more extensive and appears to go deeper into the cheese, use a knife to cut away about half an inch or more until the mold is removed. Do this if a soft cheese starts to dry out and that lovely umami mushroomy rind has dried out and cracked. Cut it off, and move on.
Just cut it off.
Then there's the ugly. But don't give up yet.
Maybe you have cut away the mold, or perhaps there isn't mold, but the soft cheese is smelling bolder than you remember. Basically, your camembert smells like cauliflower. Hold on, that is loved by some but a nose plugger for others. Pick your side. You should let your cheeses come to room temperature anyway, but these cheeses can benefit from a bit of airing out. If it's still too strong for you. Resist. Don't toss it quite yet. It's time to use it in a recipe.
I remove the rind from soft cheeses. Yes, I know I just went on and on about how necessary it is for a full brie enjoyment, but it can be a bit bitter when it gets to the last trimester. So go ahead, permission granted, dig out that creamy interior, and smear on baguette slice. Broil slightly and drizzle with good-quality olive oil or honey. This not only makes a great crouton but a deletable addition on top of a salad or served with soup. I love an over-aged kind of dried-out goat cheese on a baguette slice with a sprinkle of smoked paprika and a drizzle of EVOO, served with butternut squash soup.
Actual cheese I had, mold and way past the Best By.
I like to clean out my fridge for breakfast. Frittatas can use up a bunch of stuff. My favorite is a mushroom frittata with clumps of over-ripe double or triple cream cheeses and fresh thyme. Sometimes I finish it with a drizzle of truffle oil. AH-mazing.
And viola! my mushroom frittata. It was delicious.
The real deal ugly.
If your cheese smells like ammonia or a wet diaper. It's over; cast it aside.
Also, fresh cheeses, like cottage cheese, Fromage blanc, and ricotta. If you see mold growing on these, tossing the whole container out is best. Who knows how far that mold goes. But… having said that even though creme fraiche isn't a cheese, it's on a fine cheese level as far as I'm concerned. And if it's open and there's no mold and smells just fine, I've eaten it well beyond (I'm talking months here) its best buy date.
There are easy ways to prevent mold and spoiling cheeses in the first place.
Try not to buy huge Costco pieces. Unless they have a decent cheddar and Cardi B is coming for dinner. Cardi loves cheese. Buy only enough cheese that you can eat in a couple of weeks. You will see less mold growth, and your cheese will have more flavor. Always wrap aged cheese in a fresh sheet of wax or parchment paper and store it in a cold, draft-free part of your refrigerator (the crisper drawer is perfect). Every time you unwrap a cheese, use a new piece of wax paper when rewrapping it for storage. Foil works best for blue cheeses.
They sell, well, I sell, these cool paper cheese bags that work great. Don't tell, but I've reused them.