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Q&A How can I make hard cheese keep longer, while preserving texture?

Your mileage may vary, but I've discovered that I get longer life out of hard cheese (and some other dairy products) in the fridge by not sealing them carefully. Of course it's a careful balancing ...

posted 4y ago by xtal‭

Answer
#1: Initial revision by user avatar xtal‭ · 2020-06-13T13:49:10Z (over 4 years ago)
Your mileage may vary, but I've discovered that I get longer life out of hard cheese (and some other dairy products) in the fridge by _not_ sealing them carefully. Of course it's a careful balancing act - you want to let just enough dry fridge air in to dispel that clammy, mould-loving environment, but not enough to cause the cheese itself to start drying out. 

The mature cheddar I like to buy comes in a soft plastic package with a zip-seal to let you reseal it between uses. Rather than zipping the seal shut, these days I leave it open and just fold the plastic around the cheese, then wrap a rubber band around it loosely. This seems to get the balance about right. 

I have a similar trick with sour cream - here it comes in a little pot with a peel-back plastic seal under a plastic lid. I throw the lid away and leave the peel-back flap attached on one edge, and just lay it back over the opening while the cream is in the fridge. Sure, the residue on the inner walls of the pot might go a bit dry and crusty, but the cream at the bottom is fine, and I'm convinced it takes longer to go mouldy than it did before I started throwing the lids away.