If you have been wondering how long stilton cheese lasts in the fridge, you have come to the right place! How long stilton cheese lasts in your fridge depends on the cheese itself. It is usually hard cheeses that can last longer than soft ones.
How Long does Stilton Cheese Last in the Fridge?
For roughly two weeks, Stilton cheese can be stored in the refrigerator. It should be shielded from direct sunlight and kept in a firmly sealed container. The surface of the cheese will begin to develop a thick, white crust if exposed to air. The cheese will be soft and runny behind this crust. If any cheese exhibits these deterioration indicators, discard it.
Hard Cheeses Last Longer in the Fridge than Soft Cheeses
Soft cheeses are unripened and contain more moisture than hard cheeses. In addition, soft cheeses are prone to mold growth. This can result in the cheese becoming dry, gooey, or lacking taste. To prevent this from happening, it’s best to store your cheese in the refrigerator.
When purchasing cheese, look for a package that lists the shelf life. Most cheeses have a shelf life of around seven days. But if you’re buying a specialty product, it may last longer.
Hard cheeses are made by coagulating milk proteins with culture acids and rennet. The cheese then undergoes aging. These ages help to decrease the moisture content, which increases the shelf life.
Hard cheeses usually last 3-4 weeks. If you want to extend the shelf life of your cheese, you can freeze it. However, if you do so, you should use a freezer-safe container without oxygen.
Soft cheeses will last around one to two weeks. It’s important to store your cheese in its original packaging to keep it fresh. You can also protect the cheese by wrapping it in wax or paper.
Storage of Blue Cheese in a Cheese Cave
One of the best ways to store blue cheese is in a cheese cave. A grotto is a specialized cellar that offers a controlled climate for preserving cheese.
Cheese Grottos are assembled by hand and made from locally sourced sustainable materials. Each cave is equipped with a dual-purpose hygrometer to measure the humidity.
The cave is designed to mimic the ambiance of a traditional cheese cave. It also provides a controlled environment for aging and maturing your cheese.
The cave can last for seven to ten days, depending on the size and type of cheese you put in it. However, it is not intended to keep cheese in perfect condition for long periods.
Normally, a cheese cave can only hold semi-hard cheeses for about two months. However, the cave can extend its shelf life by another month or so for hard cheeses.
Considering that the average lifespan of a wheel of blue cheese is about six months, it makes sense to store the cheese in a cave. This will provide a controlled, humidity-controlled environment for the cheese.
Signs of Spoiled Blue Cheese
If you have a lot of blue cheese lying around, you need to be able to tell when it’s ready to go bad. The signs of spoilage include a dry texture, discoloration, and a stale smell.
When cheese goes bad, it will start to produce an ammonia-like odor. This is because bacteria in the cheese begin to break down proteins and excrete nitrogenous compounds. These compounds are harmful to your health.
Another sign of spoiled blue cheese is discoloration, such as a pink hue around the rind. It can also be difficult to eat if the cheese starts to mold.
Blue cheese should be kept in the fridge at all times. Blue cheese with a higher moisture content will go bad sooner than drier cheese.
To check if the cheese is rotten, look at the label and look for discolored spots. There should be an expiration date printed on the label. Also, check the color of the cream portion of the cheese. Normally, it should be yellow.
How Long can you Freeze Stilton Cheese?
After the freezing date, Stilton cheese can be safely stored in the freezer for up to three months. After that, the texture and flavor may have changed too much for you to enjoy.
Simply take a quick inspection to ensure that any frozen cheese is in good condition and smells good before using it. It is preferable to discard the cheese if there is a clear color change or symptoms of spoilage.
For roughly three months, Stilton cheese can be frozen.
How do you Defrost Stilton Cheese?
Stilton cheese may be quickly and easily defrosted, but it does need some patience. You cannot speed up the thawing procedure for Stilton cheese to achieve the optimum results.
So please place it in a bowl in the refrigerator, and let it defrost overnight or for a few hours.
To prevent some of the textural changes, you must defrost it gradually. If you attempt to hasten the thawing process, your cheese’s texture may become even more grainy and unpleasant.
Does Stilton Cheese Freeze Well?
This is a difficult issue since, like any cheese, Stilton doesn’t freeze well if you want it to keep its fresh flavor. It becomes crumblier as the texture alters.
But if you freeze it carefully, the flavor shouldn’t alter much, and if the texture doesn’t bother you, you can still enjoy it just as much as you did when it was fresh.
Can you Freeze Stilton and Brie?
Like Brie, blue cheese freezes pretty well, but that doesn’t mean defrosted blue cheese is suitable for all applications. Like Brie, chilling modifies the texture and reduces the amount of creaminess (FD). The flavor may also be somewhat off.
Is it Safe to Eat Out-of-Date Stilton?
In most cases, mold is not hazardous. It is intended to be secure. According to Dinsdale, eating Stilton or Gorgonzola exposes you to a significant amount of mold. According to him, milk can frequently be consumed up to 10 days after its use-by date if it hasn’t been opened and three to four days once it has.
How to Store Blue Cheese?
To prevent suffocating the blue mold in your cheese, store it in the refrigerator with plenty of air space. Use wax paper, cheese wrap, aluminum foil, or the foil the blue cheese came in to wrap the leftovers.
If you examine the packaging for blue cheese, you’ll see that it has a few tiny holes that allow it to breathe. These holes are present because blue cheese mold needs air to survive.
You can put the cheese in an airtight container or plastic bag after wrapping it. Just be careful not to squeeze all the air out of the bag before sealing it so that the cheese has some room to breathe.
That bag or container also prevents odor absorption and cross-contamination, among other things.
The perforated sleeve allows blue cheese to absorb smells from its surroundings quickly. Make sure it doesn’t sit near any odorous things if you merely wrap it.
The same is true for cross-contamination. If you leave your blue cheese in its perforated bag, mold spores could contaminate surrounding goods. That is how Gouda or parmesan gets blue mold developing on it.
As you can see, Brie cheese, another rotten cheese, and blue cheese are both stored similarly.
What Happens if you Eat Old Blue Cheese?
Eating stale blue cheese carries the risk of causing food illness. Food poisoning symptoms might include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach pain. In more severe cases, food poisoning can cause dehydration, bloody feces, and convulsions. After consuming stale blue cheese, it’s crucial to get medical assistance right away if you have any of these symptoms.
It’s important to remember that not all blue cheeses age equally well. Some varieties of blue cheese, like Gorgonzola, are at their best after a short aging period. Therefore, it is always preferable to err on caution and discard your blue cheese if you are unsure of its age.
How Long does Blue Cheese Last?
Regrettably, Absolutely. Blue cheese contains components that are susceptible to contamination, much as other dairy products.
Most blue cheese sold in grocery stores has an expiration date, though the cheese can last longer. Cutting around the decay will allow you to save the cheese if you notice some mold forming on it.
The blue cheese can keep up to 10 days when kept at room temperature in a cheese cave.
Blue cheese that has been refrigerated or frozen should be consumed within four weeks and nine months, respectively.
Conclusion
Opening the carton and foil packaging won’t impact the blue cheese’s shelf life. It can be kept in the fridge for three to four weeks if carefully preserved and wrapped in plastic. Verify the product’s expiration date and add one or two weeks. It may be kept for considerably longer than the expiration date on occasion.
After being consumed, Stilton can last for several weeks when stored in an airtight container. That is, assuming you correctly wrap it. The label frequently suggests eating it within a week for optimum quality. Blue cheese should only be stored for six months for the greatest benefits, even though it can technically be preserved indefinitely.
