And if you’re interested in making it last even longer, here’s an article that answers the question: can you freeze parmesan? Pecorino Want to learn more? Check out my article on the storage and shelf life of parmesan. Long story short, read the label if you’re buying the shredded variety. The former keeps for a rather limited time, while the latter lasts for months, even after opening. You can find it sold both refrigerated and unrefrigerated, and the storage time for them vary widely. Some minor quality issues are okay, like the mentioned separation.Ī parmesan block keeps quality for a month or two after its date and up to two months of opening.īesides blocks, you can also buy shredded parmesan, which is a bit tricky. And if that problem is severe enough to discard the cheese. If you remember how that cheese looked and tasted like when it was fresh, in most cases, you can tell if there’s something wrong with it. The quality aspect depends entirely on the type of cheese we’re talking about.įor example, cottage cheese might separate a bit, but there shouldn’t be a layer of liquid on top, and the rest one big clump. When to toss? When it grows mold that’s not native to the cheese, or the quality gets too bad. If you have one of these, check the second part of the article. Other soft cheeses are somewhere in between, and it’s difficult to come up with some general storage and shelf life guidelines for this entire category. That’s because the cheese continues to ripen even in your fridge. It keeps best for up to a week (maybe two) past its date, no matter when you open it. But it keeps for only about a week once you open it. And, despite what other sites tell you, the storage time for those differ significantly.Ĭream cheese, for example, lasts for a couple of months unopened, and one that’s two to three weeks after its date is often fine. Soft cheeses include various options, such as cream cheese, Brie, feta, ricotta, mozzarella, cottage cheese, and more. Or if the smell or taste seems off for whatever reason. When to toss? If it’s all dried up or starts to grow mold that wasn’t there to begin with. There might be a slight difference in taste after thawing, but that’s about it. If you’ve bought excess on a sale, divide it into several smaller portions, and freeze it in freezer bags. Moreover, most cheeses in this category freeze quite well. I do this all the time, and it works well. Or resealing it, if it’s one of those resealable ones. Reuse the original packaging. Usually, you can get away with just rolling or wrapping the top of the package.Not for the lazy people out there, though. Wrap the leftovers in parchment or cheese paper and place them in a food (or freezer) bag. That will help to preserve the quality of the cheese for the longest.When it comes to storage, there are two options:
Once you open the package, you get a pretty generous 2 to 4 weeks of good quality. Most of them easily keep quality for an extra 2 to 3 weeks after their date. Semi-hard and semi-soft cheeses, e.g., Emmental, Gouda, Cheddar, Roquefort, or Gruyère, last between a month and a couple of months. Leftover parmesan in a container Semi-hard to Semi-Soft Cheeses That means wrapping them in something breathable, like cheesecloth, parchment paper, or wax paper. Once you open the package, hard cheeses retain good quality for between a month and two months, assuming you store them properly. As long as they’re unopened, they most often will still be quite alright after a month to two months after the date on the label. Hard cheeses, like e.g., Parmigiano-Reggiano (or Parmesan), Grana Padano, or Pecorino, usually last for 4 to 6 months. Want to jump straight to one of them? Here are the links: To help you out, I listed a couple of examples for each category so that you know what we’re talking about. Of course, this division isn’t perfect (e.g., some people classify Cheddar as hard, others as semi-hard cheese), but you can usually guess which category the cheese you have on hand belongs to. I merged both in-the-middle ones to one because they are quite similar. In most sources, cheese types are divided into four categories: hard, semi-hard, semi-soft, and soft cheeses.