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Yes, You Can Freeze Cheese

We wanted to know how various cheeses would fare when stashed in the freezer for six weeks. The results surprised us.

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By wrapping hard and soft cheeses such as cheddar and Brie in parchment paper followed by a loose covering of aluminum foil, we’ve successfully stored them in the fridge for as long as a month. But we’ve always wondered whether cheese could last even longer in the freezer or whether the ice and fat crystals that form would rupture their protein network, leading to breakage and weeping upon thawing. 

To find out, we stashed a variety of cheeses (extra-sharp cheddar, Brie, fresh goat cheese, and Pecorino Romano) in the freezer. Six weeks later, we thawed them and tasted the samples, and to our surprise, all were essentially identical to never-frozen controls: The frozen cheddar even melted properly.

If you’ve got cheese you’re ready to stash in the freezer, here’s our simple method:

How to Freeze and Defrost Cheese

  1. Wrap your cheese tightly in plastic wrap, then seal it in a zipper-lock bag.

  2. When you’re ready to consume the cheese, let it defrost overnight in the fridge or for 2.5 hours on the countertop.

How Long Can You Freeze Cheese?

We found that as long as you wrap the cheeses extremely well (or better yet, vacuum-seal them) to prevent freezer burn, it’s fine to freeze cheese for up to two months.

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