I made a pizza today for lunch, and when I looked for a package of
mozzarella, there was an unopened package that didn't match -- it had
been in there for a year and got shuffled to the back of the fridge and
somehow made it back to the front. I looked it over and there was no
mold so I used it.

As I was grating it, it felt firmer and less rubbery than it should, so
I tasted a piece. It was strong, with a flavor and texture kind of like
sharp cheddar. So I put it back and got one of the fresh packages and
used it (but I left the roughly 1 ounce of the old sharp cheese on the
pizza)

The sharp cheese messed up the flavor of the pizza but didn't ruin it,
but that's not really the point. Has anyone eaten aged mozzarella
before? I think I've heard of aged provolone cheese; maybe that's what
I inadvertently made by aging the mozz.

-Bob

On Sep 17, 1:42*pm, zxcvbob > wrote:
> I made a pizza today for lunch, and when I looked for a package of
> mozzarella, there was an unopened package that didn't match -- it had
> been in there for a year and got shuffled to the back of the fridge and
> somehow made it back to the front. *I looked it over and there was no
> mold so I used it.
>
> As I was grating it, it felt firmer and less rubbery than it should, so
> I tasted a piece. *It was strong, with a flavor and texture kind of like
> sharp cheddar. *So I put it back and got one of the fresh packages and
> used it (but I left the roughly 1 ounce of the old sharp cheese on the
> pizza)
>
> The sharp cheese messed up the flavor of the pizza but didn't ruin it,
> but that's not really the point. *Has anyone eaten aged mozzarella
> before? *I think I've heard of aged provolone cheese; maybe that's what
> I inadvertently made by aging the mozz.

The stretched curd process that yields mozzarella is the first step in
making provolone. Curd intended to become provolone is usually made
saltier, and it is aged at cool but not refrigerator temperatures. So
I would say that what you made was provolone. Maybe not the best, but
probably pretty good. Try it again. If you expect apple and bite into
a tomato, it will taste terrible, no matter how good a tomato it may
be.

Jerry
--
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can
get.

"zxcvbob" > wrote in message
...
>I made a pizza today for lunch, and when I looked for a package of
>mozzarella, there was an unopened package that didn't match -- it had been
>in there for a year and got shuffled to the back of the fridge and somehow
>made it back to the front. I looked it over and there was no mold so I
>used it.
>
> As I was grating it, it felt firmer and less rubbery than it should, so I
> tasted a piece. It was strong, with a flavor and texture kind of like
> sharp cheddar. So I put it back and got one of the fresh packages and
> used it (but I left the roughly 1 ounce of the old sharp cheese on the
> pizza)
>
> The sharp cheese messed up the flavor of the pizza but didn't ruin it, but
> that's not really the point. Has anyone eaten aged mozzarella before? I
> think I've heard of aged provolone cheese; maybe that's what I
> inadvertently made by aging the mozz.

Isn't Provolone a smoked cheese?

"zxcvbob" > wrote in message
...
>I made a pizza today for lunch, and when I looked for a package of
>mozzarella, there was an unopened package that didn't match -- it had been
>in there for a year and got shuffled to the back of the fridge and somehow
>made it back to the front. I looked it over and there was no mold so I
>used it.
>
> As I was grating it, it felt firmer and less rubbery than it should, so I
> tasted a piece. It was strong, with a flavor and texture kind of like
> sharp cheddar. So I put it back and got one of the fresh packages and
> used it (but I left the roughly 1 ounce of the old sharp cheese on the
> pizza)
>
> The sharp cheese messed up the flavor of the pizza but didn't ruin it, but
> that's not really the point. Has anyone eaten aged mozzarella before? I
> think I've heard of aged provolone cheese; maybe that's what I
> inadvertently made by aging the mozz.

Isn't Provolone a smoked cheese?

On Sat, 17 Sep 2011 21:17:43 -0700, "Julie Bove"
> wrote:

> >
> > The sharp cheese messed up the flavor of the pizza but didn't ruin it, but
> > that's not really the point. Has anyone eaten aged mozzarella before? I
> > think I've heard of aged provolone cheese; maybe that's what I
> > inadvertently made by aging the mozz.
>
> Isn't Provolone a smoked cheese?
>

Some is, some isn't. I buy plain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provolone



--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.

"zxcvbob" > ha scritto nel messaggio

> As I was grating it, it felt firmer and less rubbery than it should, so I
> tasted a piece. It was strong, with a flavor and texture kind of like
> sharp cheddar. So I put it back and got one of the fresh packages and >
> used it (but I left the roughly 1 ounce of the old sharp cheese on the
> pizza)

You have made "provolone per caso" I believe. It should be fine.

Here I can occasionally buy Grana di bufala, which is a hard grana cheese
like Parmigiano or grana Padano but make with buffalo milk like mozzarella.
It is absolutely wonderful, but very hard to find.

"sf" > wrote in message
...
> On Sat, 17 Sep 2011 21:17:43 -0700, "Julie Bove"
> > wrote:
>
>> >
>> > The sharp cheese messed up the flavor of the pizza but didn't ruin it,
>> > but
>> > that's not really the point. Has anyone eaten aged mozzarella before?
>> > I
>> > think I've heard of aged provolone cheese; maybe that's what I
>> > inadvertently made by aging the mozz.
>>
>> Isn't Provolone a smoked cheese?
>>
>
> Some is, some isn't. I buy plain.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provolone
>
>
>
> --
> I love cooking with wine.
> Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Okay. Thanks.

On 9/17/2011 4:24 PM, Jerry Avins wrote:
> On Sep 17, 1:42 pm, > wrote:
>> I made a pizza today for lunch, and when I looked for a package of
>> mozzarella, there was an unopened package that didn't match -- it had
>> been in there for a year and got shuffled to the back of the fridge and
>> somehow made it back to the front. I looked it over and there was no
>> mold so I used it.
>>
>> As I was grating it, it felt firmer and less rubbery than it should, so
>> I tasted a piece. It was strong, with a flavor and texture kind of like
>> sharp cheddar. So I put it back and got one of the fresh packages and
>> used it (but I left the roughly 1 ounce of the old sharp cheese on the
>> pizza)
>>
>> The sharp cheese messed up the flavor of the pizza but didn't ruin it,
>> but that's not really the point. Has anyone eaten aged mozzarella
>> before? I think I've heard of aged provolone cheese; maybe that's what
>> I inadvertently made by aging the mozz.
>
> The stretched curd process that yields mozzarella is the first step in
> making provolone. Curd intended to become provolone is usually made
> saltier, and it is aged at cool but not refrigerator temperatures. So
> I would say that what you made was provolone. Maybe not the best, but
> probably pretty good. Try it again. If you expect apple and bite into
> a tomato, it will taste terrible, no matter how good a tomato it may
> be.
>
> Jerry
> --
> Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can
> get.
>
I agree on what happened. I had a package of mozzarella that got lost in
the fridge. I opened it and there was no mold. The cheese had the same
texture and taste of provolone.

On Sun, 18 Sep 2011 08:19:54 -0400, George >
wrote:

>On 9/17/2011 4:24 PM, Jerry Avins wrote:
>> On Sep 17, 1:42 pm, > wrote:
>>> I made a pizza today for lunch, and when I looked for a package of
>>> mozzarella, there was an unopened package that didn't match -- it had
>>> been in there for a year and got shuffled to the back of the fridge and
>>> somehow made it back to the front. I looked it over and there was no
>>> mold so I used it.
>>>
>>> As I was grating it, it felt firmer and less rubbery than it should, so
>>> I tasted a piece. It was strong, with a flavor and texture kind of like
>>> sharp cheddar. So I put it back and got one of the fresh packages and
>>> used it (but I left the roughly 1 ounce of the old sharp cheese on the
>>> pizza)
>>>
>>> The sharp cheese messed up the flavor of the pizza but didn't ruin it,
>>> but that's not really the point. Has anyone eaten aged mozzarella
>>> before? I think I've heard of aged provolone cheese; maybe that's what
>>> I inadvertently made by aging the mozz.
>>
>> The stretched curd process that yields mozzarella is the first step in
>> making provolone. Curd intended to become provolone is usually made
>> saltier, and it is aged at cool but not refrigerator temperatures. So
>> I would say that what you made was provolone. Maybe not the best, but
>> probably pretty good. Try it again. If you expect apple and bite into
>> a tomato, it will taste terrible, no matter how good a tomato it may
>> be.
>>
>> Jerry
>> --
>> Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can
>> get.
>>
>I agree on what happened. I had a package of mozzarella that got lost in
>the fridge. I opened it and there was no mold. The cheese had the same
>texture and taste of provolone.

The packaged mozz from the stupidmarket is a processed cheese, when
unopened it no more ages in the fridge than Velveeta. Once opened
that mozz will begin to spoil, within a month or two it will become
moldy and belongs in the trash or fed to the critters (crows love
cheese). Once opened if it's going to be used for cooking freeze it.
Right now I have mozz singles (individually wraped) in my fridge
(store brand but likely made by Polly-O or one of the biggies), bought
over a year ago, they are perfectly fine but there's no aging, it's
pasteurized. I mostly add them to frozen pizza, in fact that was
dinner last night.