Can I Make (Age) Sharp Cheese In MY Fridge?

February 10, 2006 4:45 PM

It seems that sticking cheese in the freezer would stop the ageing process, but what about keeping it in the fridge. Could I buy medium cheddar, and stick it in the fridge for a year before opening it? Anyone tried this, any mold or other problems with eating year old but unopened cheese?
posted by pwb503 to Food & Drink (10 answers total)

Quote from the Splendid Table website:

"Cheese suffers enormously from being frozen, so simply get the notion out of your head."
posted by leafwoman at 4:51 PM on February 10, 2006

I did this not too long ago. A hunk of cheddar fell behind my vegetable crisper, where it lay undisturbed for some unknown length of time. The result was one entirely green hunk of cheddar that no punishment I can think of could have induced me to open.
posted by boaz at 5:03 PM on February 10, 2006

Frozen cheese becomes cheese curds when defrosted. It saves you the hassle of grating it (if you let it defrost slowly, it'll crumble).
posted by PurplePorpoise at 5:06 PM on February 10, 2006

You'd have to get a whole wheel of cheddar, still in its wax, which isn't that hard.
This site says any temperature between 40 and 50 degrees F will work for aging. I'd be worried about humidity issues, but since cheese seems to dry out in my fridge, it may not be much of a problem.
The only problem I can think of is that there are all those weird flavors floating around in there from other foods. Would you really want to eat something that had sat around gathering up every fat-soluble flavor in your fridge for a year? Then again, if it's sealed in wax, I guess this problem would be minimized.
posted by Lycaste at 5:06 PM on February 10, 2006

I age cheap cheddar by unwrapping it, putting it on a piece of cardboard and leaving it in the fridge for at least a month. Air has to be able to reach all the areas of the cheese otherwise bad things happen. After a month, you cut away the dried outer husk and the interior is usually very sharp.
posted by 517 at 6:29 PM on February 10, 2006

I tried eating some medium cheddar that was in my fridge for around a year. It did bear a resemblance to old, but it wasn't anything close to right. Almost inedible when eaten plain actually, not quite so bad melted though...
posted by Chuckles at 6:35 PM on February 10, 2006

I routinely freeze grated fresh parmesan and it keeps indefinitely with great taste and no ther negative effects.
posted by Xurando at 7:25 PM on February 10, 2006

I've seen blue-green mold inside the unopened plastic wrapper of old cheddar. (It was being sold in bulk and at cut rate for precisely this reason.) Presumably this means that the manufacturers aren't banking on perfect control of the microflora, but rather on creating conditions where the preferred ones will outnumber the dispreferred for a predictable interval. I expect there's something to Lycaste's thought about entire wheels sealed in wax. Then again, 517 has the voice of experience.

Tell ya what. Try both, and post the results in a year :-)
posted by eritain at 9:10 PM on February 10, 2006

If it doesn't smell like ammonia, you can just cut off mold (unless it is a blue cheese, of course), and eat any cheese that one finds camping in the fridge.

Now, how it will taste, that is another matter. Usually the fossilized cheeses I occasionally find are dried out. Frequently, those are pretty tasty grated on top of some kind of pasta, or a baked potato or a green salad.

Freezing grating cheeses (parmesan, etc.) is ok, although I wouldn't freeze real parm.
posted by QIbHom at 9:21 PM on February 10, 2006

Tips on cheese storage from Missouri Extension.

How to make homemade cheddar.

Looks like aging in the fridge is one possible route, but you do have to seal it -- wax or (convenient) plastic. But any visible mold is a danger sign.
I suppose that means stopping trimming it off.
posted by dhartung at 11:01 PM on February 10, 2006