cheese board with saint andré cheese charcuterie and crackers
September 28, 2022

How to tell if your cheese has gone bad?

share — twitter facebook copy link

How to tell if your cheese has gone bad?

Cheese is a wonderful piece of food, both on its own and in a dish. It’s an ever-changing ingredient that will keep maturing after you buy it. However, it’s still a perishable food, and it can often be hard to distinguish what is proper maturing and what are the signs of a cheese gone bad.

There are three ways to recognize if a cheese has gone bad:

  • The abnormal presence of mold
  • A change of color
  • A reasonable guess as to how old your cheese is and how long you can keep it

Does mold on cheese mean that it has gone bad?

Mold is well known to appear on cheese, and we need to distinguish between two cases – voluntary mold and involuntary mold.

Most blue cheeses and flowery-rind cheeses are impregnated with Penicillium, which is a type of controlled mold. It is normal to find mold inside a blue cheese and on the rinds of camembert and brie. There are, however, some cases where mold other than Penicillium develops on cheese. This mold will have a different color to the rest of your cheese mold. If you spot mold that shouldn’t be there on a soft cheese, we recommend you throw the whole cheese away.

If you find mold on a hard cheese that hasn’t spread to the entire cheese, you can just cut out the mold and the area surrounding it. Check carefully that there’s no mold on the rest of the cheese before eating it.

Beware of any change of color

When maturing, cheese changes texture. However, a change of color indicates that something has changed in the milk. If your cheese starts to smell like rancid milk, don’t take any chances: throw it away.

How long can you keep your cheese?

Your delicious cheese won’t last forever. While hard cheese can be kept in your fridge for six to eight weeks, most soft cheeses need to be eaten in the two weeks after buying them. We don’t recommend freezing your cheese, except for some specific recipes, such as deep-fried cheese.

Mold develops more easily in a damp environment, which is why moister, softer cheeses can’t be kept as long as their hard cousins. To conserve your cheese for as long as possible, keep it in a dry place, for example under a glass bell.

Shop the cheeses from this article

Picture for Ile de France Camembert 8 oz ile de france brie cheese gallery

Ile de France Camembert 8 oz

Full star Full star Full star Half star Empty star 3.56 out of 5
9 customer ratings
5 star
44.44%
44.44%
4 star
22.22%
22.22%
3 star
0.00%
0.00%
2 star
11.11%
11.11%
1 star
22.22%
22.22%
This soft ripened cheese has a distinct earthly flavor of mushroom, typical of French Camembert, full of authenticity.
Picture for Saint Agur Blue Cheese Wedge 4.5 oz "2022 Gold World Cheese Award" for bundle saint agur blue cheese

Saint Agur Blue Cheese Wedge 4.5 oz "2022 Gold World Cheese Award" for bundle

Full star Full star Full star Full star Full star 5.00 out of 5
8 customer ratings
5 star
100.00%
100.00%
4 star
0.00%
0.00%
3 star
0.00%
0.00%
2 star
0.00%
0.00%
1 star
0.00%
0.00%
Saint Agur is one of France’s most famous blue cheeses. It combines the rich taste of blue veined cheeses with a unique creamy texture that melts in your mouth.

Supreme 7 oz "2022 Bronze World Cheese Award"

Full star Full star Full star Full star Half star 4.77 out of 5
13 customer ratings
5 star
84.62%
84.62%
4 star
7.69%
7.69%
3 star
7.69%
7.69%
2 star
0.00%
0.00%
1 star
0.00%
0.00%
A wonderfully fresh and smooth soft cheese that will appeal to everyone. Supreme was honored at the World Cheese Awards 2019/2022.
Share this on
Facebook
Twitter