Last month I gave my refrigerator a good overall cleaning. I took everything out of the refrigerator and cleaned the entire inside. I like to do this 3-4 times a year and it helps to keep my refrigerator germ-free and helps to get the expired food items out! For me, that typically means expired condiments.
With that said, shoved way back in one of the drawers I found some old cheese. Two were blocks of cheese and one was a bag of shredded cheese. One of the blocks of cheese had a small section of mold growing on it and my husband immediately yells at me to NOT throw it out.
In the past, I’ve always thrown out moldy cheese, but according to my husband you can cut off the mold, re-wrap it and still consume it. Since I doubted him, I got online and looked it up. Well, he was right!
According to the Mayo Clinic you can cut off the mold from hard and semi-hard cheeses and still consume it. They recommend that you cut off at least 1″ around the affected area and at least 1″ underneath it. You need to be careful to not get your knife into the mold, or you can contaminate the rest of your cheese. You can read about it on the Mayo Clinic website to learn more.
This rule does NOT apply to soft cheeses like ricotta, cream or cottage cheeses, nor does it apply to shredded, sliced or crumbled varieties. If you have mold on those type’s of cheese, they recommend that you toss them into the trash.
I definitely need to get better at rotating my “older” packages to the front of the refrigerator, so that they get used up first. In addition, I need to freeze any cheese that’s not getting eaten up fast enough. I really hate wasting food!
Since I was curious about this and wanted to learn more…I thought I would share my research and official answer with all of you. This is all good information to know!
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I did not know that you could also cut the mold off semi-hard cheeses. I shall definitely remember to do this in the future.
I have cut mold off of hard cheese for many years. What I find interesting is that you mentioned freezing cheese if you are not going to use soon. I never even thought of freezing it but seems like that would be a good idea.
Well, I’m still around and have been cutting off mold from hard cheeses and eating the rest of the cheese most of my life (50 years or so).
That’s why I buy block cheese and shred it myself.
I’m just sad when my cream cheese goes bad.
I answere kinda on facebook. I knew the harder cheeses it was perfectly fine. Cheese of course is aged and some have mod and bacteria in them naturally. I have had cream cheese , and fresh mozzarella go bad. You can certainly smell the difference. I know sharp cheddars and the drier cheese are fine cut back.
Well I learned something new today! I always toss anything including cheese away when I see mold present. Thank you for sharing this tip. I am sure alot of others toss the mold too!
I had no idea that you could just cut the mold off a block of cheese and it is still ok to eat. Thank you I will remember this as I can’t tell you how much stuff I end up throwing away.