Does cheddar really have to be used within 3 days of opening?

Working_and_Scheming

I have never noticed this on a packet of cheese and if I had I would have ignored it anyway. When I first got married our local Sainsburys used to have long wooden counters where you queued up and the assistance, who was dressed in a long white overall and hat, cut off the cheese on request and wrapped it in greaseproof paper. No use by date on that.

Owain_Moneysaver

Of course not.

The cheap stuff especially needs a few days out of plastic wrap to harden and mature before it approaches being edible.

Dry hard bits go in cauliflower cheese

Lilyplonk

I frequently buy very large blocks of cheese when it's been 'whoopsied'.

Preferred method is to cut off approx 2/3 of the block, grate it and put into a large zip-lock bag for the freezer.

Remainder gets wrapped tightly in clingfilm and used as and when until it's all gone .

teddysmum

I rarely manage to use a pack of cheese within a week and also cut off any mould. It gets thrown away when too dry or if the taste has become too strong for my taste.

Some years ago, someone we knew moaned that some bread was mouldy and his wife, who was a nurse, told him to get on and eat it, as he was quite happy to take penicillin for illness.

ripplyuk

teddysmum wrote: »

Some years ago, someone we knew moaned that some bread was mouldy and his wife, who was a nurse, told him to get on and eat it, as he was quite happy to take penicillin for illness.

Some moulds on bread can be penicillin but others can make you very ill. I wouldn't risk it.

Sounds like the cheddar is safe enough to keep for longer but I really couldn't cope with just cutting off mould on it! I remember years ago hearing that there was some reason for this short use by date, to do with the way modern, plastic packed cheddar is made. They said something about cheese cut from a block ie: more traditional, would keep longer.

jayII

Any mould will usually have sent spores throughout the cheese. Fine for most people to eat but not a good idea for tots/elderly/ill people. I use any once-mouldy cheese for cooking.

pigpen

If by some miracle I have cheese looking tired I grate it and then freeze it.. it is then used to top lasagne or pasta bakes.. works well.

I cut furry bits off too..

bread mould is completely different, that does a kind of root system through the bread which means while you may see a tiny bit of mould it is far more infected, cheese mould is just surface stuff so perfectly safe to slice it off.

gsymoo

I find freezing a whole block will effect it, but if you grate it first then freeze, it seems fine. Although, as I'm a bit of a cheese addict I tend to eat to quick for there to be any problems!

meritaten

eek - mould on bread isn't safe! mould on cheese is! after all - what is 'blue' cheese but cheese with mould in it?
cheese is cheese - plastic wrapping it just makes it sweat which makes it go mouldy sooner.
I can remember our local grocer having a huge block of cheese on a 'marble' in his shop........he just cut off lumps for his customers. and when I first started as a 'Saturday girl' in woolworths the cheese counter also did this. if any mould appeared (rare! only on cheeses which were less popular like Double Gloucester)it would be cut off. hard bits were cut off in the morning and grated and sold 'cheaply'. the cheese was only covered by a large muslin sheet at close of store. the counter had NO refrigeration. the cheeses were fine! and the cooked meats? they were just taken upstairs and put in the only fridge. the counters weren't refrigerated so the meat sat in room temp all day................elf and safety would be horrified now!

lollipopsarah

pah 3 days - not in my house we are big cheese eaters, but I do find that grated cheese does not keep well in the shop bags, so now I bung it in a plastic container with a lid.
As for a block, a few years ago I got a woopsie of a massive lump of cheese and I just cut it into a few large lumps and froze it - no problem was lovely.
Just remember that if your freeze it like most things let it defrose slowly in the fridge before you use it.
xx