This may be more suited for Cafe Society because it concerns food, but there should be a factual answer to this question.
I have seen people take a wedge of cheese out of their refrigerator, cut off a huge chunk of bluish-grey mold, and then slice and serve it to their guests. This is in the US. When I ask if the cheese is still good, they invariably reply that of course it is, cheese is made with mold. I then pretend to eat some of it, but mostly avoid it if possible.
So is it safe just to cut off the moldy parts of most cheeses and carry on, or has the cheese actually gone bad and should probably be tossed out? I usually don’t buy more cheese than I can consume in a week or two, avoiding the whole issue, and as a rule throw away anything in the fridge that has mold on it… but that’s just me.
Some cheeses can be stored a very long time if the conditions are right - and a rind composed of moulds (and a community of cheese mites) is not at all uncommon.
Over time, if stored in stable, cool, not-too-dry conditions (caves are ideal), hard, whole cheeses will mature, becoming generally harder, drier and sharper in flavour - this process will only really result in spoilage if the moulds and mites in the rind consume the whole cheese.
The key word is “hard cheeses”, and various government agencies say the same. But soft cheeses are a lot more vulnerable and I tend to pay attention to the “best-by” date for those – not that it should go straight to the garbage after that date, depending on how it looks, but with most soft cheeses you don’t want to push it too far.
It says you should cut off the about an inch more cheese than is visibly moldy. And I’ll agree with that. I rather doubt the mold on cheeses that aren’t meant to be moldy is dangerous, but IMO, it tastes unpleasant. And I can assure you that the mold penetrates the cheese beyond where it is visible, because I can taste the difference. But if you cut it back an inch, it should be fine.
Personally, I usually cut it back about half an inch from the visible mold and then cut off a sliver and taste it. If it tastes like mold, I cut off a bit more.
(and I eat bleu cheese and brie and similar cheeses that are intentionally molded. But I don’t care for the taste of the mold that grows on cheddar, which is the only cheese that tends to mold in my fridge.)
I’ve also had cheese spoil by drying out. Again, I don’t think it is dangerous to eat, but it’s much less pleasant than properly stored cheese.
yeah on hard cheese you can cut an inch from what you see. there are microscopic parts of mold that are far from the parts you can see with the naked eye, it will continue to grow from those parts if they remain.
Last 3 or 4 years, I’ve been buying my Christmas cheese a year ahead and storing it in the fridge. It’s really good. I have a five year old (well, 6 now) cage aged cheddar for this year.
You’ve got to be very select blood kin, or a VERY special friend to be considered for a tasting.
My go-to cheese is a 5 pound block of 5 year old cheddar. I purchase it from the factory, and it gets replaced every couple of months.
A few other samples of older stuff is saved in the back of the fridge for special occasions. Right now I’m down to some 13 year old stuff and the 30 year old sample. I expect we’ll polish off the last of the 30 year cheese when I and the wife and kids and their spouses are all assembled together this Winter. The Mrs. opened some 12 year old a while back to put on cheeseburgers, because we’d run out of the 5 year old. :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: (was pretty tasty, but NOT how I’d plan to enjoy that particular cheddar.)
The 6 year old swiss is pretty good too. Tough to find properly aged swiss. The holes are filled with an amber liquid that tastes like the very essence of swiss cheeseness.
I can lay my hands on 15 year old cheddar anytime without much trouble at the local cheese shop though.
Damn, now I’m cheese free-associating. And in GQ, too! :o
Cheese lasts VERY long under the right conditions. Heck, just take note of how old cheeses are ADVERTISED to be, 16 months, 2 years. Back in the day people didn’t have refrigerators, so cheeses were stored in root cellars and caves, which have much more ambient moisture and ventilation, both of which allow cheeses to last.
And yes, you can cut off the blue green mold and eat what’s below. Just cut off at least 1/8" deep below the mold, or maybe more, like 1/6 or 1/4
To mimic these conditions in the fridge, keep your cheese in Tupperware like containers, where they are enclosed, but have room. Open and close the containers every once in a while to create ventilation. Some very moist cheeses (like fresh goat cheeses) could stand for some holes in the lid of the container.
Once I started doing this method my cheeses stopped going bad.
In Mongolia they’ve even got these crazy dried cheeses. They smush them into pucks with Asian characters on them and then dry them like that. They last forever so the mongols can carry them as they graze the plains. Andrew Zimmern tried it on his show, and he said it was VERY strongly flavored.
