What You Need To Know About Food Safety To Be A Cheese Monger

Food safety refers to handling, preparing and storing foods in a way that prevents food-borne illnesses.

For those of you, whose love for cheese is immense like me, you should know how best to maintain cheese –  be it liquid cheese, Mexican shredded cheese, or the best cheese for burgers or just a regular cheese.

Remember, maintaining cheese safety is equally important as any other food. For your ease, I have divided cheese safety into three phases: Buying cheese, storing cheese and cooking cheese.

Buying Cheese

With varieties of cheese available at the cheese shops, buying cheese can be intimidating. Follow these simple tips and take the very first step towards cheese safety.

Find a reliable source when buying cheese, you can find the best cheese in the speciality market, cheese shops or gourmet food store that specialises in cheeses.

And if you are buying cheese on a retail store or a supermarket, make the dairy aisle the last stop so that the cheese you buy do not become warm before you reach home.

1. Many stores will happily offer samples, don’t hesitate to taste it.
2. Check the labels for the expiration date, and of course, it’s nutritional values.
3. Don’t buy too much cheese at once.
4. Make sure the cheese you buy smells normal and is free from mould.
5. Refrigerate your cheese as soon as possible.

Storing Cheese

You have done a nice cheese shopping, but if you lack parenting skills, it won’t last long. Storing cheese properly can help it stay fresh and keeps from spoilage making it last for a longer period.

These are few tips to store cheese:

1. Re-wrap your cheese in waxed or parchment paper once the cheese has been opened to avoid any unpleasant smell and flavour.
2. Refrigerate cheeses between 35 to 40 degrees.
3. Not all cheeses require constant refrigeration. Some of the cheeses with high moisture content like ricotta or mozzarella require constant refrigeration.
4. Cheese tastes best when eaten at room temperature, so remove the cheese (only the amount of cheese you will eat) form refrigeration before serving.

Cooking Cheese

Being careful while buying cheese and storing them can save your cheese from getting spoilt.

But still, sometimes it can go wrong while cooking them. Follow these few tips while cooking with cheese and never go wrong.

1. Before cooking, check of the smell of the cheese, if it smells like sour milk avoid using it.
2. Cheese can develop mould, but you should know when it’s normal. You don’t have to throw the whole thing, cut 1 inch below the mould to ensure it is wholly removed and you can use the rest.
3. While preparing dishes like sauce, risotto and soup, add cheese at the end and if making casseroles, add cheese in last 10 minutes of baking.
4. If you need to grate the cheese, do it while it’s cold, it’s challenging to grate mild cheese.

Here you go – some of the must-know cheese safety tips. Follow these tips for better shopping, storing and cooking of your beloved cheese. Did I miss some? Do add up in the comment section below.