How to Freeze Gruyere Cheese

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Things You'll Need

  • Plastic cling wrap

  • Freezer bag

  • Knife

Freezing cheese is an excellent way to keep it relatively fresh. Although most cheese loses its texture after being frozen, it tends to retain its flavor, making frozen cheese a fine ingredient for sauces and cooked dishes. Hard cheeses, such as gruyere, tend to fare better from freezing than other sorts of cheese and may continue to age slowly over time.

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Step 1

Wrap your block of gruyere cheese with a thin layer of plastic wrap. Pull the wrap as tight as you can against the cheese. If the wrap clings well, create a strong seal. If it does not cling, use a piece of tape to make sure it stays closed.

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Step 2

Wrap the block of cheese a second time. This time, use two or three layers before sealing it up.

Step 3

Place the wrapped cheese in a freezer bag. Push as much air out of the bag as you can. Roll the bag over to eliminate any excess space, then seal the bag. Ensure you have created an airtight seal.

Step 4

Store your wrapped cheese in a freezer. To ensure the best flavor over time, try to keep the freezer just below freezing.

Tip

While refrigerated gruyere cheese is best if eaten within seven days of opening, frozen gruyere will retain most of its flavor for more than three months. The cheese remains safe to eat indefinitely after that, if it's kept frozen, but may lose some of its flavor over time. These instructions are intended for gruyere and other hard cheeses. While semi-soft cheese may be frozen, the texture often becomes unusable. Soft cheeses themselves should not be frozen, as their flavor changes radically. You can create a better seal if you use a heat sealer instead of plastic wrap and a plastic bag.

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