I have recently been in the habit of buying large blocks of cheddar when it goes on sale and freezing it. The texture changes but the taste is the same.
I wonder why.
Cheese is nothing but water, protein and fat. Perhaps the freezing water pushes apart the denatured proteins causing it to lose its shape. I could experiment by freezing cheese with a low water content.
Does anyone have any insight on this?
You got it in one.
Anytime water is frozen, it makes sharp ice crytals. These crystals have a nasty habit of stabbing and slicing anything nearby, such as the proteins that help produce that lovely texture (I’m, not sure what effect both the cold and ice crystals have on the fat…presumeably it’s not nothing…) Not to mention the act of freezing itself dries out a little of the water.
I suspect the proteins might change with regard to temperature as well, but I’m relatively sure most proteins will be fine at the lower temp of a freezer, it’s usualyl the hotter temps that cause them to denature.
Are you referring to that grainy texture or something else?
Unfrozen cheese is easy to slice into a thin piece.
Frozen cheese is crumbly and tends to fall apart when you cut it.
I wonder my the freezing of meat (also protein and fat) doesn’t change its consistiency in the same way?
Meat is held together with long fibers that would be much tougher for ice crystals to damage.
Cheese is basically a suspension. Freezing it breaks down the suspension, which does not reform precisely as it thaws.
Tris