283966 Mon Mar 20 15:00:14 -0800 2006 13 31 Home Cooking 0 1516998 I bought some blocks of hard parmesan, thinking they would last...well, pretty much forever. I stuck them in my fridge, and within a few days, each little piece had mold around the outside. What do I do to preserve hard parm? Can I cut off the moldy parts and eat what I have? Mon Mar 20 15:00:14 -0800 2006 0 Pman 1 1517006 Yes. Mold is natural part of cheese. Don't wrap tightly in plastic, but in heavy waxed paper. If the cheese gets dry, wrap in it dampened cheescloth or paper towels to rehydrate gradually. Mon Mar 20 15:20:46 -0800 2006 1516998 0 Karl S 1 1517007 Once the parmesan is cut from the wheel, it starts to dry out and lose flavor if not wrapped too tightly or to mold if it is still moist but wrapped in saran. While a block of cheese may last forever, the flavor will not. Buy less as you need it, especially if you're spending money on good quality imported parmesan. But do cut the mold off if some appears. It won't kill. Mon Mar 20 15:27:58 -0800 2006 1516998 0 Ellen 2 1517025 I think that the moister the cheese is, the more this is a problem, and that small cuts of cheese wrapped in stretch plastic wrap are particularly vulnerable - the advice always is to take the cheese out of the plastic when you get it home and re-wrap it in foil, paper, something that will let the cheese breathe a little - I used to wrap my big fresh cut parm hunks in foil, and then put in a big plastic bag - that worked pretty well for long storage. Parm and similar cheeses also seem to last pretty well in the heavy shrink wrap packaging. Mon Mar 20 16:20:11 -0800 2006 1517007 0 jen kalb 1 1517011 Yes, you can just cut of the mold and eat the cheese. Mon Mar 20 15:44:20 -0800 2006 1516998 0 butterfly 2 1517022 Yep...do it all the time. It's wierd...some parmersan lasts a long time without molding and other molds pretty fast....not a biggy however, it stays just on the surface, so not much is wasted. Mon Mar 20 16:11:26 -0800 2006 1517011 0 Aaron 1 1517017 I heard somewhere that cheese freezes well. We froze a soft, rinded cheese that we knew we wouldn't finish before it rotted, and it was fine. The rind comes off more easily when the cheese is frozen, and when it thawed, the taste and texture were unchanged. Also, although I suspect you already know this, parmasan rind is a great addition to clear soups. Cook with the broth and then toss. Best regards, Kay Mon Mar 20 15:59:07 -0800 2006 1516998 0 Kay Curry 1 1517063 I have a few ideas for you. The first is freezing. I routinely buy cheese in quantity, wrap air tight, and freeze in sizes I can use up in a week. So I only keep a week's worth the the fridge, the rest wait their turn in the freezer. This way I never worry about mold. Another idea is to buzz about 8 oz. of parm in the food processor and keep in a plastic container in the fridge. For some reason the pulverized cheese never gets moldy, unlike cheese in chunks which always molds within two weeks. Another idea is to keep cheese in a plastic container with about 1/4 inch of salted vinegar in the bottom. This also retards mold for quite a while. Mon Mar 20 18:06:54 -0800 2006 1516998 0 Niki Rothman 2 1517126 yeah, i keep finely grated pecorino romano in a plastic tub, and it seems to keep forever without the slightest speck of mold. if i happen to be grating some parmesan for a recipe, i might add what's left over to the tub as well. i've never tried freezing, but think i might do that soon. Tue Mar 21 04:34:37 -0800 2006 1517063 0 hobokeg 3 1517159 When I freeze cheddar or jack cheese instead of being able to slice it when defrosted, it crumbles when you cut it - into perhaps quarter inch lumps. This does not in any way affect the taste, texture or mouth feel, and when you melt the cheese in any recipe it behaves perfectly as if never frozen. I even appreciate this tendency to crumble as it's actually a work saver. Cheddar and jack seem to be the only cheeses that do this - parm, romano, gruyere, and all soft cheeses, ricotta, cottage cheese, cream cheese, butter - all completely unchanged by even extended (2 months) freezing. Tue Mar 21 11:16:13 -0800 2006 1517126 0 Niki Rothman 1 1517066 I cut a smaller chunk out, wrap it in a paper towel, and throw it in a tupperware container. The paper helps wick away the moisture. The larger piece I vacuum seal in a foodsaver until the working chunk is used up. Mon Mar 20 18:26:16 -0800 2006 1516998 0 zfalcon 1 1517147 I use wax paper for the large blocks of sharp cheddar I buy - wrap in wax paper, then throw in a ziploc - and it keeps beautifully. The wax paper is perfect for shredding cheese onto, then I rewrap and put away. I replace the wax paper when it gets damp. Tue Mar 21 10:42:08 -0800 2006 1516998 0 miss_mia 1 1517150 I saw a TV show cook give a tip for wrapping hard cheese in a vinegar-moistened paper towel to prevent mold from forming. pH level is involved there I assume. Tried it, and it works, but I'm usually too lazy to do this on a regular basis. Tue Mar 21 10:50:59 -0800 2006 1516998 0 toodie jane 2 1517547 Easier perhaps than refreshing a wet paper towel is placing the cheese in a plastic container with about a third of an inch of vinegar in the bottom in the fridge. But what really beats all is just freezing extra cheese and only keeping cheese in the fridge that you can use up in a week. Thu Mar 23 10:51:43 -0800 2006 1517150 0 Niki Rothman