One of the popular ways to extend shelf life, or is it possible to freeze grated cheese?
Freezing cheese is one of the popular ways to extend the shelf life of your favorite product.
Most often, a whole piece is sent to the freezer, but there are situations when you need to freeze already grated cheese.
In order to do everything correctly, it is important to know the features of organizing such preparations for future use. I will tell you in the article whether it is possible to freeze grated cheese.
Content
Is the grated product suitable for storing in the freezer?
Grated cheese product, like lump cheese, can be preserved for future use by freezing. Not everyone is suitable for these purposes, so You need to pay attention to the following requirements:
- high quality product;
- hard grade.
Will tell you how to store grated cheese this article.
How to grate frozen?
A bar freshly removed from the freezer will be difficult to grate, because it is too hard.
But if you let it sit in the refrigerator for a while, it will be much easier to do.
You can also put fresh cheese that you plan to grate in the freezer for a short time, literally for half an hour. This will help its consistency become denser, and it will be more convenient and easier to rub.
What varieties can be frozen?
Hard varieties are suitable for grated preparation and subsequent freezing. cheese. They withstand low temperatures much better than semi-solid, and even softer ones.
High temperature causes the mass to melt to a greater or lesser extent (depending on the type of product).
The most suitable varieties for freezing are:
- Poshekhonsky.
- Dutch.
- Maasdam.
- Parmesan.
- Gruyere, etc.
Blue cheeses are not suitable for freezing. Read about freezing blue cheese here, Maasdama - Here.
Freezing rules
In order for the product to retain its quality as much as possible, it is necessary to adhere to the freezing rules.
Preparation
For freezing, you must use the hard variety. The product must be of high quality - not stale, without mold or change in consistency. It should be grated on a coarse or fine grater. If there is a lot of cheese, then the entire volume can be divided into separate portions and frozen separately.
Package
For freezer storage, you can use ziploc bags, vacuum bags or food-grade plastic containers. The container must be clean, dry, and sealed tightly.
The purpose of packaging is to isolate the chips, do not allow the cheese to oxidize, exchange odors with other products and dry out.
Each individual package should contain only a certain type of product; several should not be mixed.Also, you should not place both lump and grated cheese in the same container, even if they are of the same type.
If bags are used, then after placing the chips in them, squeeze out as much air as possible. This is necessary in order to slow down oxidative processes.
In that case, When choosing a food plastic container, you need to pay attention to its volume. The cheese should fill it almost completely. This, as in the previous case, will minimize contact of the product with air.
If bags are used for packaging, you must ensure that they do not allow air to pass through. When they are first placed in the freezer, the cheese is still soft, and the packages can be shaped into any shape. This must be taken into account, since after just a few hours the chips will become hard, and storage will be long, and compactness will be very important.
How long to store?
The length of time grated cheese can be stored in the freezer depends on several factors. Among the important ones:
- variety;
- product quality before freezing;
- correct choice of containers;
- compliance with the conditions in the freezer.
Even if all the requirements are strictly followed, grated cheese can be stored in the freezer for no more than 3 months (piece cheese - longer, up to six months). But even during this time, the product will probably be useful for making pizza, sauce, casseroles, etc.
If there were frequent temperature changes during the storage of the product in the freezer, for example, due to equipment malfunction, the cheese may spoil.
Defrosting features
Grated cheese should be defrosted without exposure to high temperatures. For this the package with the preparation must be transferred from the freezer to the refrigerator shelf.
You should not use an oven, microwave or hot water, as with such exposure the cheese shavings will simply stick together and lose a significant part of their taste.
One of the main conveniences of grated workpieces is the ability to use the workpiece in cooking even without prior defrosting. In this case, the cheese is simply crumbled onto pizza or another dish, which will then be baked.
If grated cheese had to be defrosted, it should be used immediately. It will no longer be able to remain in the refrigerator for a long time. Also you shouldn’t put it in the freezer again - the product won’t survive this, will lose both its consistency and taste.
Conclusion
Freezing grated cheese is one way to preserve the product and speed up the process of preparing various dishes. If properly organized, the shavings can be used for months without wasting time on rubbing the product.
