How do you tell if gruyere cheese is bad? It’s always important to check for signs of spoilage before consuming food. For Gruyère cheese, signs of spoiling include a rancid smell (it should typically have a nutty, sweet aroma), changes in color (which may indicate the growth of mold), or a very hard texture.
Including those seemingly invincible American cheese slices.
“Really, the best advice I have is to eat your cheese as soon as you buy it — that way you can be sure its always fresh,” said cheesemonger Rachel Freier, who works at New Yorks pretty much world-famous Murrays Cheese Bar. But for those of us who like preplanning, sometimes we need to store our cheese in the fridge.
Though Freiers own ethos is “buy small [quantities], and frequently,” as opposed to bulk purchases, she also has some insight on how long almost every variety of cheese will last in your icebox — and how to tell if its past the point of no return. The cheeses are split into three pertinent categories that should cover everything out there. Yes, even those seemingly invincible American cheese slices.
Examples: Asiago, Parmesan, Beaufort, pecorino Romano, Cheddar
Whats the fridge life? “Harder, aged cheeses will last the longest in the fridge out of any cheese,” said Freier. “Most can last four to six months in your fridge, if you store it correctly. All cheese will lose moisture and change over time — though harder cheeses have less internal moisture than most anyway, so they will be the least affected.” Though the cheese will last and still be “good,” Freier noted that any cheese, when frozen, will taste a little differently.
How to store it: “What I do, is use what I call the egg drawer (NOTE: Not the vegetable drawer — though that can be used in a pinch) and wrap the cheese in cheese cloth, parchment paper, or butcher paper,” she said, while advising all cheese lovers to stay away from wrapping it, skin-tight, in cellophane. “The cheese needs to breathe — this will help it last longer than if its suffocated.”
How to tell if its gone bad: “With harder cheeses, you can definitely cut a little mold off, should some pop up,” she said. “Just chop off the problem area, and you should be good to go.” Though Freier noted to pay attention to the mold you see, before slicing it off and digging in. “If the mold is white, or blue/green — thats natural. If you are seeing red or black mold, it could be another issue and you should throw the cheese out, honestly.”
No one wants to toss out a great piece of cheese if it doesnt need to be, so its important to be able to distinguish mold from calcium lactate. To do so, it often comes down to how the marks look and feel. If the marks are molded, then they will be soft. They are also more likely to be a raised mass on the surface of the cheese. In comparison, calcium lactate crystals will feel coarse to the touch. They also should be more engrained in the cheese than mold.
Another trick to distinguish one from the other is to take a knife and scrape the surface of the cheese. If the white part flakes off, its likely calcium lactate. Mold, however, will probably just fall apart. Cheese crystals will be found on the inside, as well as the outside of the cheese, so if the substance is found only on the surface of the cheese, its likely to be mold and the cheese should not be eaten. But if its calcium lactate, its fine to go ahead and enjoy a piece of that deliciously aged hard cheese.
In the case of the hard cheese and its aging process, lactate rises to the surface of the cheese along with the moisture, which recedes leaving the lactate on the surface. That lactate is then visible as white crystals or even a layer of white film that some may think is mold. So how can you distinguish lactate on the surface versus mold? After all, you definitely dont want to be eating mold for both health and flavor reasons.
There are a few traditional signs that your fresh food has gone bad: its developed a bad smell, its color has changed, its texture has altered, or the most obvious, it has grown mold. In the case of hard cheese, it may have developed white spots, but before you assume the cheese needs to be chucked into the garbage, take a closer look. Those spots may not be mold, but naturally forming calcium lactate spots also called cheese crystals.
Commonly found on hard cheeses like cheddar cheese, aged gouda, and gruyere, calcium lactate spots are formed when lactic acid interacts with the cheeses calcium. In fact, many cheese lovers appreciate the cheese crystals, which indicate the cheese is well-aged. The reason softer cheeses like mozzarella dont get these white marks is that they have more water content, preventing the lactate from being seen.
Our Taste Test of Supermarket Gruyère
FAQ
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