In no way budget related.... moldy cheese

[SDSorority]

Hi all. This is in no way budget related, but it's my "home" board, so I thought that I would post here.

So I have a certain aged raw milk cheddar cheese that I like that I have gotten from Trader Joe's for the last, I don't know, 6 months now.

This past package I opened on Wednesday. Today DH and I took some to work and ate it around 11am (about the size of 3-4 dice). When I got home I was going to cut off a little for a snack before dinner and I noticed that on one end there was some white fuzz. Now I'm freaking out that the cheese we ate at work might have had some of the white fuzz mold on it too. I don't know if it did.... and we ate it 8 hours ago. We both feel fine right now- will white mold on cheddar cheese make us sick (or would that have happened already)?

DH is not as worried about it as I am... of course.

 

[pat fan]

Moldy cheese = you are fine.

What is blue cheese? Mold.

Where do antibiotics come from? Mold.

You won't want to hear it, but food safety classes say if cheese is moldy to cut it off one inch past the mold, throw out the moldy bit and keep serving the rest. And from an even sounder source, my mom would take off the moldy bits from cheese, pie, bread, whatever and we would eat the rest. If mom says it's ok, it's ok. And we all lived, so I guess she was right

You'll be fine.

 

[SandrA9810]

For a hard cheese, I just cut it off and eat what isn't affected. I don't know about raw milk cheeses, but there's several kinds, like blue cheese, that is created with mold. Isn't in the end, all cheese some form of mold from dairy?

If you don't feel sick now, you never will. At least from the cheese.

 

[Eeyore98]

Some molds are fine, and some are dangerous. I wouldn't be as cavalier as pat_fan above.

That being said, white fuzzy mold on cheese is *usually* some variety of Penicillium, which is the mold they derive penicillin from. AND you ate from the other end from where you saw the mold. Usually 1 inch from any visible mold is perfectly safe for a hard cheese.

Isn't in the end, all cheese some form of mold from dairy?

No. Some, like brie and bleu cheese, are deliberately inoculated with mold during production. But otherwise, cheese is formed from dairy exposed to rennen and acids to make it curdle, then the curds are tightly pressed to form a solid.

 

[girli565]

I was always under the impression that on hard cheeses you can just cut off the moldy part and eat the non-moldy part. I'm sure you're fine!

 

[cvrapclark]

I'm glad to see this question because it brings up something I was wondering about, also.

The packages of string cheese, I assume these need to be refrigerated (though I can't seem to find it on the pkg.) What if they are kept cold and then get room temperature for overnight. (left out by accident) Can you put them back in fridge and they are ok?

 

[riley2008]

I'm glad to see this question because it brings up something I was wondering about, also.

The packages of string cheese, I assume these need to be refrigerated (though I can't seem to find it on the pkg.) What if they are kept cold and then get room temperature for overnight. (left out by accident) Can you put them back in fridge and they are ok?

I've wondered this too. I recall growing up getting our cheese stacked in the aisle of the grocery. Now the Kraft "cheese product" was always refrigerated. (Then again, our milk was on a shelf, too, in Germany and Mexico, but that had been pasteurized.) My grandmother and mother also keep block cheese out on the counter in winter when the house stays cool. (They'll cut a half of block to leave out at a time in a baggie.)

Also, real cheese isn't created in refrigerator temps. I think the caution/distinction must too be made between real cheeses and cheese-like products.

Only real cheese and butter for us - and we leave our butter on the counter too!

 

[aprilgail2]

You won't want to hear it, but food safety classes say if cheese is moldy to cut it off one inch past the mold, throw out the moldy bit and keep serving the rest. .

I worked in an italian restaurant and that is exactly what we did- if the brick of cheese was moldy we cut off that area and used the rest.

 

[SDSorority]

Thanks for all of your responses, everyone.

DH and I are fine this morning

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

You might find this interesting reading:

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/FactSheets/Molds_On_Food/

For hard cheeses: Use. Cut off at least 1 inch around and below the mold spot (keep the knife out of the mold itself so it will not cross-contaminate other parts of the cheese). After trimming off the mold, re-cover the cheese in fresh wrap.

 

[mikehn]

Mold is really hard to see on cheese, unless you are really looking for it. I usually buy these big blocks of cheese from Costco and they take me months to finish so I have no doubt I've eaten plenty of mold over the years.

 

[fakereadhed]

Read the entire thread and still can't understand how moldy cheese is not budget related.

If not for the budget wouldn't you just toss it?

 

[SDSorority]

Read the entire thread and still can't understand how moldy cheese is not budget related.

If not for the budget wouldn't you just toss it?

Oh I did toss it- the whole rest of the block.

I was worried it was going to make me sick because I think I ate some of the mold, before realizing it was there.

But, it didn't so I'm