What are the Best Practices for Storing and Freezing Cheese?

There are many places where you read that you should never freeze cheese. This is a good rule to follow if you are buying those small batch very expensive artesian cheeses which you probably would never buy except for a special occasion or for a very special treat. On the other hand those highly processed big loaves of generic cheeses from the supermarket shelves can be frozen for a while without much damage to the product.

One thing to remember is that cheese is a living breathing product. If you wrap it tightly in a plastic wrap you will encourage moisture growth and that means molding. So when you bring it home you do need to remove the original plastic wrapping on it unless of course it is the big loaf with the waxy covering. The waxy coverings can maintain it for quite a while. They can either store or age in the back of the refrigerator for some months or you can freeze it just like that. But if it is a smaller piece in plastic wrap whether you are going to store or freeze it remove the plastic as soon as you get home.

Freezing it will generally cause it to dry out and become more crumbly so the texture changes. It is good in a melting recipe when you have defrosted it. If you are going to freeze it make sure you put it in a moisture proof and air tight container. It will take about 24 hours to thaw. You may also find that the taste has changed.

Fresh cheeses have high moisture content and are really quite fragile. If they have natural cracks or holes in them they can attract frost crystals and can get freezer damage so you really should not freeze them. They will often weep when they are defrosted.

If you are storing cheeses in the refrigerator you should keep them covered because they will pick up the refrigerator odors. A good thing to wrap them in is cheese paper which is a two ply paper with the outer layer waxed paper that prevents moisture from coming in and the inner layer is a porous plastic that allows the oxygen in so it can circulate. Otherwise wrap them loosely in parchment paper or waxed paper and put them in a plastic baggie. Cheeses should be vibrant and alive with fine texture, aroma and taste.