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Does Cheese Go Bad?

It's a question I am asked frequently, and my answer is always the same, "Yes, but you'll know it if it's so spoiled that you can't eat it." That's kind of a loaded answer though, because many people think that cheeses that are perfectly fine have spoiled. For instance, Époisses is so stinky that it smells spoiled even when it's perfectly ripe! That said, if a cheese is so smelly you can't bear to eat, don't. (But make sure you find the nearest curd nerd and ask them if they would want it!)

In fact, cheese is just milk that has spoiled in a controlled way, so asking whether spoiled milk can spoil is kind of a non-question. But maybe you want some more details. The folks over at Philadelphia's DiBruno Bros. have published an extensive blog entry on cheese spoilage. Definitely worth a read!

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Does cheese go bad.

From someone who works with cheese everday the DiBruno article is very accurate. Most cheese with the exception of fresh cheese will not go bad. If an aged cheese get really old (over 3 months in your frige, you should probably just throw it away - it will not taste very good, but will not be bad).

For purchasing great cheese online visit our site. www.idealcheese.com - Thanks for caring about cheeses, and having a great blog / refernce guide for the consumers of CHEESE !!!

  • By Michael (not verified) at 2008-08-09 21:58
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Hard as rock!

While I'm not likely to say no to a delectably stinky cheese (mmm..), I have had a couple of hard cheeses go "bad" simply by losing moisture and forming into a new pale yellow type of rock! Although I will admit that I still cut a couple of pieces (and when I say "cut," I mean "saw") before giving the cheese up for lost! ;-)