Freezing cheese - advice please

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One of my favourite cheeses is Bourne’s farmhouse Cheshire. Mr & Mrs Bourne sell it at one of my local farmers markets and I always buy a large piece at the market just before Christmas. It appears on Christmas Day after the turkey and before the pudding (and it’s then around till New Year).

The market is usually held on the weekend before Christmas but, this year, they’ve changed the date to the beginning of December. Now, the Bourne’s sell their cheese at peak condition for eating so I’m doubtful it’s going to keep that way for a month. Hence me asking about freezing it - something I’ve never done before.

I know that, technically, I can freeze a hard cheese like a Cheshire. But my query is how much, if any, the flavour and texture will be affected. Will it still be a worthy food to serve to the family on Christmas Day or should I look to other cheeses I can buy nearer the time.

TIA

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According to the company website, the cheese, well wrapped, can be kept frozen up to 12 months without issue.

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In that case, even more stupid of me than not looking first at the website, was that I was at the market yesterday and could have asked Mrs Bourne.

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No biggie, @Harters. The info is all that matters. Visiting the site, I learned something along the way!

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In my experience, the cheese loses moisture and becomes “crumbly”. Crumbles when cut, flavor is fine, texture changes.

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I have had that happen with loose, high moisture cheeses not dry cheeses.

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I haven’t tried with your cheese.

The usual advice is hard cheese like Comté, the seller’s advice if wrapped in the original wax paper, you can store in the bottom of the fridge for 3 months. In reality, I would say it’s about a month. And you said your market is in early december, and it will be a 3 week wait till Christmas, I don’t think there will be a problem storing in the fridge.

I’ve cheese being sealed vaccum and stay in the fridge for longer time, that is acceptable for age cheese like Parmasan, as the cheese is very dry or eaten grated, but I don’t think it’s ideal. For hard cheese that contains moisture, I find the texture becomes dry and lacks the original favour once unsealed.

I’ve never tried freezing cheese, but will avoid. First the cheese has to be sealed vaccum and not just put in a ziplock bag, as there will be ice buildup inside the bag. So it means the cheese will has the first shock of dry environment and secondly the cold. I think the molecule structure will change, the cheese will become crumble like.

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I think in theory if you have a fairly empty fridge with nothing but only the cheese inside, it may work. One needs to look at the cheese from time to time to see if it is sweating.

We open the fridge often and with the interaction and moisture and smell from other food, things get more complex.

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I thought the question was about freezing the cheese in preparation for Christmas.

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I can’t seem to find the page with this on Bourne’s website but Google found me another local producer of a Cheshire which does say it’s freezeable if well wrapped. So, I think I’ll give it a try - farmhouse Cheshire has a tendency to be crumbly anyway.

So, the cheese course at Harters Hall will be the Cheshire, Colton Bassett Stilton, Gubbeen and Sparkenhoe Red Leicester. Or I may hide the Gubbeen away until the guests have gone home…and maybe the Red Leicester as well.

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Gotta say, your cheese plans have me hungry for a cheese cave visit!

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https://www.cheshirecheesecompany.co.uk/frequently-asked-questions

This was my source.

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I have held cryo-vac wrapped cheese in the refrigerator for a very long time, like several months. All of the cheese I have frozen have become crumbly. Exception is perfectly aged Brie or Camembert, which well wrapped can be successfully frozen. (It’s said that) they won’t age after being frozen. I don’t know. Probably true also for epoisses or Mt. D’or, but they’ve never lasted around long enough to be tested.

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Dan - that was also the website I found.

FWIW, here’s the Bourne’s site which may be of interest to folk (if for no other reason thna the family has been making cheese since 1750) - http://www.hsbourne.co.uk/

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Thanks. I enjoy reading up!

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This has never happened to me for any kind of food. I’ve frozen blocks of cheddar in the past (they do lose a little something, but not much). And I routinely freeze parmesan. But I think @Harters cheese will be fine for three weeks in the fridge. It takes me that long to get through a half pound, and the worst that happens is it gets a bit of mold and I cut it off.

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High fat and/or soft cheeses freeze without much negative impact - double and triple cream french, robiola, and the like.

That said, I freeze cheese pretty often and a bit of crumbliness in a hard cheese doesn’t bother me too much.

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I’ll second the observation that after freezing, hard cheeses crumble, (which is a great excuse for indulging in mac&cheese!). I do not keep fancy-schmancy cheese wrapping papers or bags on hand but my experience is that wrapping a block of firm/hard cheese in a paper towel, then sealing it in a zipper baggie with the air squeezed out before refrigerating prevents mold for longer than simply refrigerating the unopened block in the plastic wrap it comes with.

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I often sprinkle salt on cheddar cheese to prevent mold when storing in the fridge.

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I’ve also had very good results wrapping hard cheeses in cheesecloth that has been dampened with vinegar, the. Sealed in a plastic baggie.

(We lived on a boat when I was a teenager. This worked well for keeping cheese without refrigeration…in northern climes we kept it in a locker below the waterline. Once we reached warmer waters, cheese was kept at the top of the icebox)

When I was in France, shredded mozzarella was unpleasant at best. But I found that if I froze the chunks it would change the structure to something I could slice and shred easily…but it would still melt and stretch beautifully

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