Parmesan Cheese

Pink.

nikflo wrote: »

i've got a lump from lidls in my freezer now, hope it defrosts ok.

Hi nikflo,

On one of the threads that I linked to some people recommend grating as much as they want straight from the freezer and putting the rest back into the freezer. I've never tried it but it sounds like a good idea.

Pink

annaangeluk_2

I grate it straight from the freezer. If seems to defrost instantly, tastes fine!

HTH

Stacey

Pollycat

Thanks, ladies, for this advice.

I popped up to my local Somerfield this morning and noticed they had some of their Best Ever Parmesan reduced to half price.

I came home and checked it out and have been back up (using my £10 per week Stagecoach megarider so it's not cost me anything - execpt a bit of time and, being retired, I have that a-plenty) and bought some packs to pop in the freezer.

All I need to do now is decide whether to grate it first or pop it in in a lump.

Oh, and at the same time I also bought a fresh free-range corn fed chicken, a 1Kg piece of belly pork and a range of Best ever cheeses (that I'm also going to pop into the freezer) and some lamb's liver, some Charlotte potatoes & some chillies that I'm going to use tonight to make 'Turkish Liver Soup - which will also solve my problem of what to do with 3 green peppers.
So I spent just over £25 and it would have cost me £53.48. Most was half price, the potatoes and chillies were 75% off.

My new freezer was delivered this morning and it has to stand in place for 6 hours before being switched on.
We've moved my old one (which is still working) into the garage and put the food back in until I can load up my new one.

Regards
Polly

MRSMCAWBER

Hi there

Dont forget that the rind bit at the end can be thrown into your white sauce and cooked slowly... it will pretty much melt away..but you can remove any that doesn't if need be - loads of flavour in your sauce for lasagne etc... well we don't want to throw anything away do we

Penelope_Penguin

I grate it into bags and freeze that. You can do the same with any hard cheese (such as Cheddar). As it's grated, it takes no thawing.

Penny. x

lolarentt

Pink-winged wrote: »

Hi nikflo,

On one of the threads that I linked to some people recommend grating as much as they want straight from the freezer and putting the rest back into the freezer. I've never tried it but it sounds like a good idea.

Pink

I've contributed to earlier threads on this - not only can you grate it straight from the freezer, just using as much as you need at the time, but you can flake it with a potato peeler (the swing blade sort) which is much nicer on pasta dishes like tagliatelle, spaghetti etc than the grated stuff. I buy mine in large blocks in France where it is half the UK price, and freeze the whole block.

VickyM_2

To be honest, it lasts and lasts and lasts in the fridge - I don't see the need to freeze it. We brought several lumps back from Italy in early May and are half-way through the last pack, which has only been kept in the fridge all this time. Bear in mind that in italy you can get Parmesan which has been aged for several years, so all you're doing is letting it age a bit more in your freezer!

lolarentt

VickyM wrote: »

To be honest, it lasts and lasts and lasts in the fridge - I don't see the need to freeze it. We brought several lumps back from Italy in early May and are half-way through the last pack, which has only been kept in the fridge all this time. Bear in mind that in italy you can get Parmesan which has been aged for several years, so all you're doing is letting it age a bit more in your freezer!

I found that if you keep blocks too long in the fridge they can get a mouldy surface, I agree some months is OK - the big block I've just finished was bought in August 2006 according to the remains of the wrapping I threw away yesterday! The cheese was still fine

luvvlyjubbly

I've just bought a small block of fresh parmesan from Asda. It is best before 20/08/08 and label states once opened use within 7 days. I was under the impression it could be stored for a couple months...it's very unlikely I will use within a week.....so do you think if I put in an airtight container it would last a month?
Thanks in advance

Churchmouse

Mine sits in a plastic bag, in the fridge for weeks and weeks sometimes. Just depends, sometimes I use the wedge in a couple of weeks or so, others it's a great deal longer. Never been ill from it, and only ever had one tiny piece grow mould. How would you feel about cheddar say? It's all hard cheese, and will have been matured for months before you got it.