Yes, you can freeze brick cheese to extend its shelf life, but expect a slight change in texture, making it more crumbly, so it's best used for cooking, melting in dishes, or on pizza, not for snacking or slicing on sandwiches. For best results, wrap portions tightly in plastic/foil or vacuum seal, then freeze; thaw slowly in the fridge, or add shredded frozen cheese directly to recipes.
Fresh cheeses, like goat, feta, and moz, and flavorful, semi-soft cheeses (think: brie, havarti) lose the most in quality, texture, and flavor once frozen. Parmigiano Reggiano, cheddar, and other aged, hard cheeses fare best.
Best way to store semi-hard cheese:
Discolouration: Significant changes in colour, such as yellowing or browning, can indicate spoilage. Taste Try a small amount of the cheese. If it has an off or sour flavour, it's likely spoiled and should not be consumed.
Soft cheeses like Brie, Camembert, Neufchâtel, and some fresh goat cheeses lose their texture and quality when frozen. They may separate or become watery after thawing.
Yes, pre-shredded cheese freezes well. To help prevent freezer burn, squeeze out as much air as possible before sealing the bag and placing it in the freezer. It can be frozen for up to six months without significantly affecting its taste or quality.
You can't freeze cheese because the moisture inside forms ice crystals, which break down its structure, making it crumbly, mealy, and watery when thawed, especially for soft cheeses. While hard cheeses like cheddar can be frozen for cooking (melting, sauces, casseroles), soft cheeses (brie, feta, fresh mozzarella) and those with live cultures (blue cheese) suffer significant texture loss and are best used fresh, though you can freeze them for cooked dishes to avoid waste.
To thaw your cheese, move your airtight container from the freezer to the fridge where it should sit overnight, so it has time to rehydrate and regain some of its original texture. If your cheese is shredded (which we'd recommend for freezing), you can also simply melt it from frozen and skip this step.
Generally, semi-firm and firm cheeses with a relatively low moisture content—think cheddar, Colby, provolone, low-moisture mozzarella, and hard Italian styles like Parmesan and Pecorino Romano—all freeze well, according to the Center for Dairy Research.
As freezing stops bacterial growth, cheese can be frozen for quite a long time – but we recommend using within six months. Beyond this the cheese's taste and texture can be very significantly altered.
But the shelf life of dairy products can be short, and if you're trying to cut costs by buying bulk or reducing delivery frequency, then you risk ingredients reaching their use-by date before you've got to them. The good news is that many dairy products, including mozzarella, freeze incredibly well.
You can't freeze cheese because the moisture inside forms ice crystals, which break down its structure, making it crumbly, mealy, and watery when thawed, especially for soft cheeses. While hard cheeses like cheddar can be frozen for cooking (melting, sauces, casseroles), soft cheeses (brie, feta, fresh mozzarella) and those with live cultures (blue cheese) suffer significant texture loss and are best used fresh, though you can freeze them for cooked dishes to avoid waste.
Pieces of cheese with smaller surface area, like shreds or small blocks, will freeze more quickly than large blocks. Freezing can affect a cheese's flavor too. The enzymes and living cultures in cheese that develop flavor over time are deactivated by freezing, and no amount of careful thawing will change that.
Some of the worst cheeses to freeze include:
To defrost, simply put it in the refrigerator. Keep the cheese in its original packaging and allow a couple of hours for the cheese to thaw, then use the cheese as soon as possible.
Freezing works best for hard and semi-hard cheeses like cheddar, Monterey Jack and Parmesan.
If not already, frozen cheese should be removed from its carton. Bags should be stored flat between 2ºC and 5ºC for 3 days (72 hours). Once thawed, the cheese should be kept at below 5ºC in a closed bag or container. Use the products as soon as possible after thawing to preserve optimal functionality.
On the other hand, if it's been hanging out in the back of your cheese drawer, unopened, beyond its expiration date, so long as it isn't showing signs of mold, it's probably still good to eat. Cheese will typically become unpalatable to you before it becomes unsafe.
Also throw out any shredded, crumbled or sliced cheese with mold. With these cheeses, the mold can spread through the cheese, even if you can't see it. Also, harmful bacteria, such as listeria, brucella, salmonella and Escherichia coli, can grow with the mold.
Soft cheese will last one week in the fridge but is best consumed before that time. Semi-hard cheeses can last two to three weeks in the fridge when stored properly.
No problem. Instead, a bigger concern should be if your feet smell like cheese.