Is extra-sharp cheese supposed to crumble easily?

Cafe Society
1

I usually buy Sargento sharp, sliced cheese for sandwiches.

Walmart was out of stock and I bought Sargento extra-sharp, sliced cheese.

I was quickly reminded why I usually don’t buy extra-sharp. The slices won’t come out of the package without breaking into multiple pieces.

Is extra sharp cheese supposed to crumble easily?

Sargento layers the slices and makes it easier to peel off a slice. But extra-sharp breaks instead of peeling away.

I also learned pre-sliced cheese molds quicker. I try to consume a opened package within ten days.

2

I haven’t necessarily noticed a difference between sharp vs. mild, but I find that sliced Sargento cheese crumbles very easily compared to some other brands.

3

I like their extra-sharp aged White cheddar slices. I have never had any trouble picking out one slice, it always stays in one piece.

4

Yes, as cheese ages (I have the most experience with Cheddar, but I think other similar cheeses follow the same pattern) it loses moisture, and goes from kind of rubbery to crumbly, with stages in between of course. As this happens, the milk sugar (lactose) is transformed into lactic acid by bacteria, which causes the increasing sharpness of taste while it ages. Well-aged cheese will get little crystals in it. which make it taste even sharper and tangier.

I don’t buy Sargento, it seems to me to lack flavor, but if your aged slices are breaking apart, I wonder if you have tried sliding a thin flexible blade between them instead of just using the paper to pull them apart. Or go down one level to plain “sharp” slices, which should hold together better.

5

The package has been open for awhile. I’ll try separating with a butter knife.

Unfortunately Sargento doesn’t separate the slices with paper anymore. That’s contributing to the problem separating the slices.

I agree Sargento isn’t a strong tasting cheese. It’s intended more for sandwiches. The cheese shouldn’t over power the other flavors.

I will buy sharp next time. Walmart usually keeps it stocked.

6

Yup, what @Roderick_Femm said. If my cheddar isn’t somewhat crumbly, i don’t trust it. :wink:

7

The elder cheddars do crumble easily. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature! A sign of the tasting pleasures to come. It takes a particularly sharp cheese shaver to properly deal with a cheddar in its teen years and beyond.

8

I just use a sharp paring knife.

9

Yeah, if I open a supposedly extra sharp cheddar and it isn’t somewhat frangible, I’m immediately suspicious.

10

By the way, this is why very sharp cheddar is not very good for cooking, it tends to separate rather than melt. Although, with care, it can work when crumbled and combined with another grated cheese that does melt well.

11

You’re quite right, but a little cornstarch can help with that. But frankly I don’t use the elder stuff for cooking with. I cook with the 4 or 5 year old stuff, which also needs cornstarch. Or I just use velveeta.

Today I visited my local cheese factory where I bought some really super fresh string cheese they just bagged this AM, along with whole milk mozzarella, a whole block of it! Plus two small 1/4 lb pieces of 19 year old cheddar they were discounting. Along with that I got an actual 4 lb mini wheel of 8 year old cheddar, wrapped in cheesecloth and coated in wax. That I’ll save for a special occasion or special gift to someone.

They did have some 23 year old cheddar on sale too, but I’ve got some specimens that old in my cheese drawer already, and they’re asking exorbitant prices for it: $119/lb. When it doesn’t move they’ll start discounting it by 25 or 50%, then I’ll snag some.

Meanwhile I’ve been munching on some aged gouda. That doesn’t crumble so much as it fractures along parallel lines.

12

Sharp or extra-sharp?

13

Extremely sharp. Stropped not honed.

I bet you didn’t know James Bond was a cheesehound. :zany_face:

14

I like my cheese sharp enough to shave with. Sharp enough to do surgery with!

A little chili fig jam on it is nice, too.

15

Now that sounds like some real cheddar. Every once in a while I go to the Amish cheese store. I’ve yet to fork over the cash for really old cheddar, but even their sorta old cheddar is really good. Gotta’ go again soon.

16

It is a distinctive feature of cheddar-type cheeses that they go crumbly - the ‘cheddaring’ process involves milling the curds to create the texture that results in the crumbling.
Some other hard cheeses don’t go especially crumbly when they mature - for example a lot of hard European cheese go sort of waxy-hard as they age - gruyere and gouda for example, or mimolette - which starts out a bit like edam, but is matured until it’s very hard and waxy.