Blue cheese has an acquired taste, but it’s still a popular cheese that has sharp and salty flavours loved by cheese connoisseurs across the planet. But if you find yourself with too much blue cheese, is it possible to freeze it and save it for a later date?
Can You Freeze Blue Cheese?
Yes, you can freeze blue cheese for up to 3 months. Either split the blue cheese into portion sizes or wrap it well and freeze it as it is, and it should be perfectly fine for several months in the freezer.
Do Does Blue Cheese freeze well? Sometimes
Can you refreeze Blue Cheese? No
How to Freeze Blue Cheese
As blue cheese is one of the harder cheeses, it freezes relatively well. However, it becomes crumbly after it has frozen, and it loses some of its potent taste.
While this isn’t a problem if you plan to use blue cheese in a sauce or as part of a recipe, you might want to avoid serving it up as an after-dinner option with crackers.
Below are the steps you need to follow to successfully freeze blue cheese:
- Slice: If you’ve purchased a big block of blue cheese, you might want to slice it into smaller portions before you freeze it. This just makes your life easier when it’s time to defrost the right amount of cheese in the future.
- Wrap: Place each piece of blue cheese in foil and wrap well. Make sure there are no tears or cracks in the wrapping, as freezer burn will affect the taste and texture of your cheese.
- Place in a Container: Next, place your wrapped blue cheese in a freezer-safe container and seal. This stops the odour from releasing to the other foods in your freezer.
- Label and Freeze: Write today’s date, as well as the use-by date of your blue cheese on the lid of the freezer-safe container before placing it in the freezer.
3 Tips for Freezing Blue Cheese
Now you know how to freeze it, we’ve got our 3 top tips which we strongly recommend following when freezing blue cheese to have the best results:
Check the Date
Blue cheese tends to have a relatively long shelf life compared to other cheeses. As such, you might find that you don’t necessarily need to freeze it, which ensures it won’t crumble or lose any of its taste.
Use in Sauces and For Toppings
Because your blue cheese is likely to crumble in the freezer, you should plan to use it in a sauce, soup, or as a topping on pasta or a pizza.
Always Keep in a Container
Blue cheese has an extremely strong odour, so you need to wrap it well and store it in a suitable container in the freezer. You don’t want the odour to affect your other food in the freezer!
How Long Can You Freeze Blue Cheese?
You can freeze blue cheese for around 3 months.
Blue cheese has a lifespan of around six months, but it usually needs to be used within a few weeks after being opened. As such, freezing blue cheese as it approaches its expiry date is an excellent way of preserving it for a few extra months.
How Do You Defrost Blue Cheese?
When you’re ready to enjoy your frozen blue cheese, you will need to remove it from the freezer and transfer it to the fridge. You need to be careful when defrosting dairy, and you should never defrost cheese at room temperature.
It’s a good idea to take the block of cheese out the night before you plan to enjoy or use it, as this gives it sufficient time to thaw thoroughly in the fridge.
Can You Refreeze Blue Cheese?
You should only freeze blue cheese once. If you’re worried about wasting leftovers, slice your block of blue cheese into smaller portion sizes before you put it into the freezer.
This makes it easy for you to remove the amount of blue cheese you need at any given time.
Does Blue Cheese Freeze Well?
It’s fair to say that blue cheese freezes reasonably well. If you’re planning to use it in a sauce, soup, or for a topping, you should have no issues with the freezing process.
But because it becomes crumbly after being frozen, it’s not ideal for serving up as part of an after-dinner cheeseboard, as your guests will be disappointed with its texture as they try to apply it to their crackers!
Related FAQs
If you’ve still got questions about freezing blue cheese or cheese in general, then these may help:
Once opened, blue cheese will keep in the fridge for between 3 to 4 weeks but this does rely on your storing it properly. To store blue cheese in the fridge, it’s important to wrap it in multiple layers of cling film before placing it into an airtight container.
Yes, you can freeze blue cheese crumbles in a freezer bag. Once crumbled, portion it out into bags, seal the bags up and freeze. After 30 minutes, give the bags a little shake to try and avoid it all clumping together once frozen.
Yes, it is possible to freeze St Agur cheese. As always, it’s vital that you store it in a good-quality freezer bag or preferably an airtight Tupperware container. You can keep St Agur frozen for around 3 months.
Yes, it’s possible to freeze most types of blue cheese, including Stilton. However, it won’t be good to eat neat or on crackers or a slice of bread. The texture will be off and flavour will have degraded so it’s best to use in sauces and dressings only.
Unfortunately, softer cheeses will not freeze as well as harder cheeses. Their texture will degrade at a rapid rate. Then, when you thaw it, the texture will be completely off. It can, however, be used to add flavour to sauces.