The best way to store raclette cheese?
It is in a maturing cellar with a temperature of around 12 degrees, and 92% humidity. But hey, not all of us have a maturing cellar at home.
If you do not have a maturing cellar, and in order to preserve its smoothness, you can simply:
- Consume it within 3-4 days, keeping it in the fridge, preferably wrapped in aluminum foil. It is important to note that you should never keep the cheese scraper in newspaper or paper towel, as this can affect the taste and texture of the cheese.
- Consume it within 7 days by putting it in the fridge and wrapping it in a slightly damp cloth.
- Consume it within 30-40 days, putting the half wheel of cheese vacuum-packed raclette, not forgetting to lightly scrape off the crust of the cheese (the smear).
- Consume it within 6 months, freezing it. But before doing this, wrap the raclette cheese in aluminum foil before vacuum sealing it, to prevent the cheese from drying out. It will also help protect the cheese from other foods and odors in the freezer. Label the vacuum bag with the freezing date and the name of the cheese to meet you there later. Once placed in the freezer, the cheese can be kept for about 6 months, or even slightly longer.
It is important to remember that frozen cheese will lose some of its characteristic melting texture.
Do not forget that a frozen cheese will no longer evolve in terms of its ripening. So freeze it only when fully ripe. To find out when a cheese is fully ripe, please read the blog post next.
How to defrost raclette cheese?
You have to get out cheese raclette cheese from the freezer and put it in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours before scraping it. A little reminder, before freezing a cheese raclette cheese, lightly remove the morge (rind of the raclette cheese). The first 2 raclettes may be a little less good, but that's not a certainty.
