Are you storing your cheese correctly?
Last year took hand washing to a whole new level.
Soap and hot water with a happy birthday jingle, antibacterial hand gel, antiviral hand wipes… Anything to keep COVID-19 at bay.
And it didn’t end there. Keeping our homes bacteria and virus free is now permanently on our list of things to do.
With cleaning and food safety in many people’s minds, we wanted to remind you how to store our Yorkshire Dama Cheese dairy delicacies safely and bacteria-free.
How to Store Cheese Safely
Why is food safety important? The simple answer is to stop harmful bacteria from growing in your food or transferring from one food to another, making you ill.
Here is a quick guide on how to store our Yorkshire Dama Cheese products.
Our squeaky cheeses have a shelf life of six months and it is recommended they are used within five days of opening.
Once opened, store it in the fridge in an airtight container or wrap it in baking paper or cheese paper tightly. Remember to rewrap the cheese in fresh paper after every use.
If possible, avoid handling it too much with your hands to avoid any bacteria or the natural oils in your hand from transferring to the cheese. Alternatively, you could wear plastic gloves.
You can freeze our squeaky cheeses too. Store it wrapped in an airtight container before freezing. Generally, you can keep halloumi cheeses in the freezer for a few months.
When you want to use it again, thaw it in the fridge a day before use. The texture may change slightly upon freezing, but it shouldn’t affect the flavour!
Same as our squeaky cheeses, use an opened package of ricotta within five days.
Always store it in the fridge, well-sealed to stop it from drying out or from picking up any smells. And don’t leave it at room temperature for too long.
If scooping ricotta out of the bag, always use a clean spoon!
Freezing alters the texture of ricotta cheese so as a general rule it is not recommended. However, if you are planning on using it in cooked dishes, its crumbly post-freezer texture won’t matter.
If you do freeze it, use an airtight container. Thaw for five to six hours in the fridge before use, and use within three days.
Keep our delicious Labneh refrigerated and tightly covered at all times and use it within five days of opening. When using a knife or spoon to scoop it out, make sure your utensils are clean to avoid cross-contamination with other foods.
Labneh can also be rolled into balls and preserved in oil for up to three months, as long as the Labneh balls are fully covered with the oil.
How do you know if your dairy products have gone bad?
The three key, tell-tale signs are an off smell, visible mould, and discolouration (yellow and orange).
To prolong the life of all our Yorkshire Dama Cheese products, avoid mishandling them, store correctly in clean containers, and keep away from raw meat or seafood when storing or handling it.