Can You Freeze Cheddar Cheese Shredded
Even extra sharp cheddar melted nicely after freezing.
Can you freeze cheddar cheese shredded. The best cheeses to freeze are your everyday blocks such as cheddar monterey jack and part skim mozzarella which are favorites for things like mac and cheese and pizza. You can freeze block or sliced cheese for up to 2 months. The frozen cheddar even melted properly. Freeze processed cheeses as shredded pieces slices or blocks.
Processed block cheeses that you can buy from the deli such as cheddar provolone low moisture mozzarella colby jack and others are great for freezing. For cheese you shred or grate yourself place it in a freezer bag and carefully remove as much air as possible from the bag. As long as you wrap the cheeses extremely well or vacuum seal them to prevent freezer burn it s fine to freeze cheese for up to two months. Whether in blocks or already shredded separate opened packages of cheese into pound bundles.
The product can be stored in its original packaging. To our surprise all samples were essentially identical to never frozen controls. When freezing shredded cheddar toss it in flour or cornstarch beforehand. The easiest way to prevent cheese from spoiling before you can use it up is to freeze it.
Big blocks of store brand cheddar for example are uniformly smooth and suffer less textural damage when frozen than more irregular types of cheese. If you are starting with block cheese how to freeze shredded cheese requires using a cheese grater to shred the cheese first. Freeze your cheddar in a size and style like finely shredded that is consistent with how you ll be using it later. For prepackaged shredded cheese place the package in a freezer bag before putting it in the freezer.
Repackage opened bags of shredded cheese in airtight food saver or freezer bags. For sliced make sure each individual slice is separated with parchment paper before wrapping and bagging. This will keep the shreds from forming clumps which would be hard to separate later. Cheese can also be grated or sliced before freezing.
For large block cheese like cheddar don t freeze more than 1 pound 500 grams per portion. If the original packaging has been removed you can wrap the cheese tightly in plastic cling wrap or aluminum foil and then place in a ziplock freezer bag for freezing. Although you can freeze cheddar in blocks you will have to thaw the whole block which might not work well with your plans particularly if you buy in bulk.