Sunday, March 11, 2012

How Long Does Cheese Keep in the Refrigerator?

Proper storage is one of the most important aspects of food preservation. You will realize that most food that spoils do so as a result of poor storage. For example, there are some foods that you cannot refrigerate for longer period of time. If you insist on doing so, you will waste it after a while. On the other hand, some foods will need the refrigerator to remain fresh for long. Most animal products can be stored in the fridge for longer time without getting spoiled.

For instance, refrigeration of cheese will make it remain preserved for an amazing period of time. Depending on the quality of cheese that you want to refrigerate, it is possible to even keep it refrigerated for even months. Cheese can stay pure for so long when in the fridge. In most cases, the best storage temperatures should be 35 to 40 oF. This is possible only when the original wrapping is maintained. Immediately the original wrapping is tampered with, it is possible to find that your cheese would get spoiled after a few days. If you want it to remain good for long after you have opened the package, it may mean that you have to rewrap it very well.
There are important factors that you will have to regard when you want your cheese to preserve for long periods of time. The most important is the type of cheese. Here, we can talk about soft cheese and hard cheese. Soft cheese would generally demand that they are eaten shortly after purchase and opening so that they never get bad. They may stay for hardly three months which means that you must not spend too much time with it after you break the seal to ensure that they don't waste your money. In other words, soft cheese doesn’t have better longevity when refrigerated. On the other hand, hard cheese should spend a lot of time in the refrigerator without going bad. It is the type of cheese that we would advice can spend even six to eight months as long as all the conditions for preservation are obeyed.
If you are thinking about natural cheese, be sure that it will not stay long even if you have stored it very nicely. If you have differentiated the types of cheeses that you would want to buy, you will definitely need to obey proper storage. Processed cheeses which are sliced can be used within six months. It will not be nice to have them beyond that duration. For all consumers of cheese, it is important that you get the meaning of “best if used by” which is usually printed or tagged on the cheese package. It is usually meant to tell you during which time you can have your cheese without losing its original flavor. Let this not be confused with how long it can be stored. Once you have cracked open the package, you will need to tightly seal it again so that it can maintain the flavor or else, you will lose it very fast. Refrigeration will help you, but it will not be ultimate even for open cheese. If the cheese has a “packaged on” date, it is usually good at least 5 days (for fresh cheeses).

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