I spent Thursday night and most of Friday smoking up 3
briskets, 2 butts and 6 slabs of St Louis style spares. As
the fire wound down, I popped 2lbs of cheddar and 2lbs of
swiss (cut into 1lb slabs for better smoke coverage) into the
vertical section of my smoker. The cheeses were smoked for
about 1 hour at 90F-100F. I now have some tasty cheese, but
don't think the family will be able to eat it all before it
goes bad. I was thinking of portioning up the cheese into
1/4lb to 1/2lb chunks and processing with the vacuum sealer
and then freezing for long term storage. Any comments or
suggestions?

I would post pictures of the entire smoking section to ABF,
but my wife had taken the memory card out of the camera and
forgot to return it before going off to work with it in her
purse.

--
George B. Ross is
remove the obvious bits for email
Why is it that being a good boy and being good at being
a boy don't require the same set of skills? - anonymous

On Sat, 06 Aug 2005 16:22:20 GMT, "George B. Ross"
> wrote:

>I spent Thursday night and most of Friday smoking up 3
>briskets, 2 butts and 6 slabs of St Louis style spares. As
>the fire wound down, I popped 2lbs of cheddar and 2lbs of
>swiss (cut into 1lb slabs for better smoke coverage) into the
>vertical section of my smoker. The cheeses were smoked for
>about 1 hour at 90F-100F. I now have some tasty cheese, but
>don't think the family will be able to eat it all before it
>goes bad. I was thinking of portioning up the cheese into
>1/4lb to 1/2lb chunks and processing with the vacuum sealer
>and then freezing for long term storage. Any comments or
>suggestions?
>
>I would post pictures of the entire smoking section to ABF,
>but my wife had taken the memory card out of the camera and
>forgot to return it before going off to work with it in her
>purse.


We do what you suggest with cheese we get on sale (haven't tried
smoked cheese yet). It sometime tends to crumble when thawed out. It
is still good for grating, possibly not good for slicing.

1/4 pound would probably be better. We have found the quicker the
cheese freezes the less likely it is to crumble. We clear off a part
of a shelf in the freezer part of the side-by-side. We place the
cheese on a single layer on a rack (we vacuum after it is frozen).

Our unit has an acceler ice setting that will temporarily lower the
freezer temperature to 10 degrees below 0). This way the cheese
freezes very quickly. Then we vacuum to chunks.

"George B. Ross" > wrote in message

> I now have some tasty cheese, but
> don't think the family will be able to eat it all before it
> goes bad. I was thinking of portioning up the cheese into
> 1/4lb to 1/2lb chunks and processing with the vacuum sealer
> and then freezing for long term storage. Any comments or
> suggestions?

How long is long term? I've kept cheese in the fridge in the vacuum bags
for over 6 months with no problems. Freezing can ruin the texture.
--
Ed
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/

Larry ) opined:

> On Sat, 06 Aug 2005 16:22:20 GMT, "George B. Ross"
> wrote:
>
>>I spent Thursday night and most of Friday smoking up 3
>>briskets, 2 butts and 6 slabs of St Louis style spares. As
>>the fire wound down, I popped 2lbs of cheddar and 2lbs of
>>swiss (cut into 1lb slabs for better smoke coverage) into
>>the vertical section of my smoker. The cheeses were smoked
>>for about 1 hour at 90F-100F. I now have some tasty
>>cheese, but don't think the family will be able to eat it
>>all before it goes bad. I was thinking of portioning up
>>the cheese into 1/4lb to 1/2lb chunks and processing with
>>the vacuum sealer and then freezing for long term storage.
>>Any comments or suggestions?
>>
>>I would post pictures of the entire smoking section to ABF,
>>but my wife had taken the memory card out of the camera and
>>forgot to return it before going off to work with it in her
>>purse.
>
>
> We do what you suggest with cheese we get on sale (haven't
> tried smoked cheese yet). It sometime tends to crumble
> when thawed out. It is still good for grating, possibly
> not good for slicing.
>
> 1/4 pound would probably be better. We have found the
> quicker the cheese freezes the less likely it is to
> crumble. We clear off a part of a shelf in the freezer
> part of the side-by-side. We place the cheese on a single
> layer on a rack (we vacuum after it is frozen).
>
> Our unit has an acceler ice setting that will temporarily
> lower the freezer temperature to 10 degrees below 0). This
> way the cheese freezes very quickly. Then we vacuum to
> chunks.
>
Larry,
thanks for the info.


--
George B. Ross is
remove the obvious bits for email
Why is it that being a good boy and being good at being
a boy don't require the same set of skills? - anonymous

Edwin Pawlowski ) opined:

> "George B. Ross" > wrote
> in message
>
>> I now have some tasty cheese, but
>> don't think the family will be able to eat it all before
>> it goes bad. I was thinking of portioning up the cheese
>> into 1/4lb to 1/2lb chunks and processing with the vacuum
>> sealer and then freezing for long term storage. Any
>> comments or suggestions?
>
> How long is long term? I've kept cheese in the fridge in
> the vacuum bags for over 6 months with no problems.
> Freezing can ruin the texture.

Ed, probably no longer than 6 months, so I may just keep it in
the fridge to avoid the texture problems. I don't anticipate
cooking with it, just snacking with crackers and such.

--
George B. Ross is
remove the obvious bits for email
Why is it that being a good boy and being good at being
a boy don't require the same set of skills? - anonymous

> > "George B. Ross" > wrote
> > in message
> >
> >> I now have some tasty cheese, but
> >> don't think the family will be able to eat it all before
> >> it goes bad. I was thinking of portioning up the cheese
> >> into 1/4lb to 1/2lb chunks and processing with the vacuum
> >> sealer and then freezing for long term storage. Any
> >> comments or suggestions?
> >
> > How long is long term? I've kept cheese in the fridge in
> > the vacuum bags for over 6 months with no problems.
> > Freezing can ruin the texture.
>
> Ed, probably no longer than 6 months, so I may just keep it in
> the fridge to avoid the texture problems. I don't anticipate
> cooking with it, just snacking with crackers and such.

I'm inclined to agree with Ed, cheese properly packaged and stored
should last a while. Hard cheeses such as parmesans , and other
grating cheeses will last longest; runny cheeses should be eaten first.
Cheddar will give you good mileage when stored well too.
Proper storage includes getting it out of that saran wrap plastic and
allowing the cheese to vent cO2 as it ages, keeping it from
accumulating gas in the plastic and getting slimy. Its organic, and
needs to breathe.
When you get it home, you should wrap it in cheesecloth that has been
slightly moistened with water or in parchment paper, then taking either
of these wrapped items and finishing in foil.
Try it on your next chunk of cheese. You'll be surprised at
you're throwing away less cheese.

Pierre

On 7-Aug-2005, "Pierre" > wrote:

> > > "George B. Ross" > wrote
> > > in message
> > >
> > >> I now have some tasty cheese, but
> > >> don't think the family will be able to eat it all before
> > >> it goes bad. I was thinking of portioning up the cheese
> > >> into 1/4lb to 1/2lb chunks and processing with the vacuum
> > >> sealer and then freezing for long term storage. Any
> > >> comments or suggestions?
> > >
> > > How long is long term? I've kept cheese in the fridge in
> > > the vacuum bags for over 6 months with no problems.
> > > Freezing can ruin the texture.
> >
> > Ed, probably no longer than 6 months, so I may just keep it in
> > the fridge to avoid the texture problems. I don't anticipate
> > cooking with it, just snacking with crackers and such.
>
> I'm inclined to agree with Ed, cheese properly packaged and stored
> should last a while. Hard cheeses such as parmesans , and other
> grating cheeses will last longest; runny cheeses should be eaten first.
> Cheddar will give you good mileage when stored well too.
> Proper storage includes getting it out of that saran wrap plastic and
> allowing the cheese to vent cO2 as it ages, keeping it from
> accumulating gas in the plastic and getting slimy. Its organic, and
> needs to breathe.
> When you get it home, you should wrap it in cheesecloth that has been
> slightly moistened with water or in parchment paper, then taking either
> of these wrapped items and finishing in foil.
> Try it on your next chunk of cheese. You'll be surprised at
> you're throwing away less cheese.
>
> Pierre

Like Ed, I've also had excellent results from keeping my cheese under
vacuum and in the frig. After I use whatever amount of cheese I want,
I repack the remainder under vacuum and return it to the frig. It does
not mold or lose it's texture for months.
--
The Brick said that (Don't bother to agree with me, I have already changed my mind.)

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I've frozen a variety of cheeses and that some cheese tend to crumble
when thawed and don't maintain the same texture. Mozzarella freezes
well. Cheddar and Jack crumble. Swiss freezes well. Gouda tends to
crumble. I think it has something to do with the fat content of the
cheese, but honestly I have no idea. And I must admit I don't vacuum
seal them. Anyhow, my point is that your swiss should be fine.

CAS

I've frozen a variety of cheeses and that some cheese tend to crumble
when thawed and don't maintain the same texture. Mozzarella freezes
well. Cheddar and Jack crumble. Swiss freezes well. Gouda tends to
crumble. I think it has something to do with the fat content of the
cheese, but honestly I have no idea. And I must admit I don't vacuum
seal them. Anyhow, my point is that your swiss should be fine.

CAS