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01-11-2007, 16:20
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#1
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Winters - Out Cruising / Summers in the NC mountains
Boat: Brewer 42
Posts: 292
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Storing Cheese
My wife and I are headed to the Exumas and we both love cheese. Does anyone have tips on storing cheese? What cheeses store the best?
Thanks
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01-11-2007, 17:02
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#2
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2007
Boat: 1973 Morgan 36T
Posts: 808
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I had this in my boat unrefrigerated for about 3 weeks this Summer. It lasted very well.
Paul
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01-11-2007, 17:36
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#3
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Toronto
Boat: CS36Merlin, "La Belle Aurore"
Posts: 7,557
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Keeps forever in the fridge. By the way very good cheddar is available in the Bahamas at prices better than the States as it's one of the food items subsidized by the Bahamian government. We take wheels of brie and some of the stronger cheeses as they're not that available in the Bahamas.
__________________
Rick I
Toronto in summer, Bahamas in winter.
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01-11-2007, 17:38
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#4
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Philippines in the winters
Boat: It’s in French Polynesia now
Posts: 11,368
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Vacuum seal them very tight in portions just large enough to use up in a couple days. And keep them cool to touch or below.
This has worked very well for us at home. We buy cheese in one pound blocks, while on sale, and divide them into 1/4 # unites (vac sealed) and they'll last more them a month just out in the cool of the garage............_/)
__________________
Faithful are the Wounds of a Friend, but the Kisses of the Enemy are Deceitful! ........
The measure of a man is how he navigates to a proper shore in the midst of a storm!
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02-11-2007, 12:44
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#5
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Annapolis, Bahamas
Boat: 1983 Gulfstar 36
Posts: 1,253
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I have tried some canned cheese, Keeps forever but tasts like silicon paste. The butter and other stuff is fine however
Canned Food
__________________
Will & Muffin
Lucy the dog
"Yes, well.. perhaps some more wine" (Julia Child)
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02-11-2007, 15:01
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#6
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CF Adviser Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Montrose, Colorado
Posts: 9,845
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Quote:
Originally Posted by S/V Antares
I have tried some canned cheese. Keeps forever but tastes like silicon paste. [emphasis added]
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And you know this, how?
Will & Muffin - As you quote the late Julia Child, I thought I would add this cheese serving note:
Open all portholes when you cut the cheese.
TaoJones
__________________
"Your vision becomes clear only when you look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks within, awakens."
Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961)
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03-11-2007, 18:48
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#7
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Annapolis, Bahamas
Boat: 1983 Gulfstar 36
Posts: 1,253
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Thats funny Tao, I can just hear the old girl saying that with straight face!
__________________
Will & Muffin
Lucy the dog
"Yes, well.. perhaps some more wine" (Julia Child)
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03-11-2007, 18:51
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#8
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֍֎֍֎֍֎֍֎֍֎
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 15,136
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Any old time cook book or camping book will give you answers on this. Generally, a hard cheese or a cheese with a hard crust will keep well. (Once the crust is broken, you may have to make fast use of the cheese.) But with a hard cheese like an edam or cheddar, the typical way to keep it is by dipping it in wax or wrapping it in cheesecloth and then waxing it, which excluses the air and preserves it very nicely. Any moldy spots can be safely cut off, then you rinse the cheese with some vinegar to kill any other mold spores that may still be unseen on it (to prevent then from attacking the cheese).
Start off with "sealed" cheese, i.e. Edam, Gouda, Cheddar can all be bought waxed and sealed from the maker in large of small balls. Others like Swiss are available only in much larger wheels. But cheese that has been "cut down" in the store--no matter how clean the store is--inevitably goes bad faster, someone always handled the cheese, or the wrapper, or something, and it starts to mold faster than stuff sealed by the maker.
There are probably some good pages on this on the US Department of Agriculture web site--they used to publish all of this as an aid to farmers and homemakers, and have put most of it online. They're about as safe and reliable a source of food handling information as you can find.
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11-11-2007, 11:36
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#9
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Salvador, Brazil
Boat: 31' Muira - Hoplite
Posts: 5
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We have had a lot of success with storing cheese in vegetable oils like sunflower oil. This keeps the air out. We slice the cheese into strips and store it in the oil in sealed containers. We have stored low grade cheddar cheese for over two years now, and it is still perfect. Just be careful of the mess at sea when removing the cheese! But the oil lost in the process can be used for cooking purposes if planned in advance.
Hoplites
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A pessimist complains about the wind; An optimist expects it to change; A realist adjusts the sails
- William Arthur Ward
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14-11-2007, 08:33
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#10
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2004
Location: annapolis
Boat: st francis 44 mk II catamaran
Posts: 1,212
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Hmm, great advice. Does this work with other things?
Quote:
Originally Posted by hoplites
We have had a lot of success with storing cheese in vegetable oils like sunflower oil. This keeps the air out. We slice the cheese into strips and store it in the oil in sealed containers. We have stored low grade cheddar cheese for over two years now, and it is still perfect. Just be careful of the mess at sea when removing the cheese! But the oil lost in the process can be used for cooking purposes if planned in advance.
Hoplites
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14-11-2007, 09:12
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#11
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2003
Boat: Tayana 37
Posts: 212
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Lin Pardey, in her book "The Care and Feeding of Sailing Crew" offer several examples of storing cheese, as well as other provisions, for extended sails.
A book well worth it's purchase price.
Have a great trip!
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16-11-2007, 04:13
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#12
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Senior Cruiser
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Thunder Bay, Ontario - 48-29N x 89-20W
Boat: (Cruiser Living On Dirt)
Posts: 49,141
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Always re-wrap cheese in fresh wrapping, preferably in waxed or parchment paper, after the cheese has been opened to avoid having the cheese dry out or pick up other flavors. If cheese is wrapped in plastic, the wrapping should be changed every few days to allow the cheese to breathe, and to keep the cheese from becoming slimy or discolored.
The recommended temperature range for storing many cheeses is between 35 and 45 degrees Fahrenheit, at a high humidity level.
If cheeses other than fresh cheeses and blues have surpassed their expiration dates (imprinted on the packaging) or if the cheese develops a blue-green mold on the exterior, make a cut about a ½ inch below the mold to ensure that it has been entirely removed; the remaining cheese will be fine.
Butter at room temperature quickly turns rancid when exposed to oxygen, so the usual means of preserving it is to store it in the refrigerator. But all that’s really needed is to keep air away from the butter.
A French Butter Dish (or Butter Crock, or Butter Bell) does this by using water to form a seal between the butter and the air.
There are two parts to the dish: a smaller, bell- or cone-shaped piece that sits on a wide base, and a second, larger container.
You fill the bell up with butter, put water in the larger container, and invert the bell into the water. Because butter is basically an oil, it won’t mix with the water, and as long as it’s not too hot, it will remain sticky enough to stay inside the bell.
You can keep this on your counter-top, so that butter is always available, without having to soften it.
Crocks keep butter fresh at room temperature (up to about 80̊ F) on the counter for several weeks without spoiling (at higher temperatures, the butter may slip out).
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Gord May
"If you didn't have the time or money to do it right in the first place, when will you get the time/$ to fix it?"
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16-11-2007, 04:53
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#13
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2003
Location: New Bern, NC
Boat: Prout Manta 38' Catamaran - Sunspot Baby
Posts: 1,521
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The wax covered cheeses (a full ball, not a wedge with exposed surfaces) will keep well for months unrefrigerated. The flavor strengthens but is still delicious. All you are doing is aging it a little more.
George
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Put my credit to shame
Sunspot Baby, sure had a real good time
Bob Seger
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16-11-2007, 07:39
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#14
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: georgia coast
Boat: 1977 Kelly Peterson 44
Posts: 44
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Great.... now all I can think about is Bahamian cheddar and coconut bread cheese toast!
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16-11-2007, 11:41
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#15
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֍֎֍֎֍֎֍֎֍֎
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 15,136
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Gord, instead of that french butter bell...couldn't you just fill a crock with butter and cover it with some olive oil, or water? And if the butter floats, stick a weight on it?
(No one-trick ponies allowed in my kitchen, not even French ones.<G>)
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