How To Store Smoked Cheese (2 Effective Methods)

The cheese right after smoking remains heavily smoky; that’s why I couldn’t eat it. So, I had to store it in a proper way.

Basically, I tried two methods to check out an experiment. To keep the smoked cheese, the things I used were none other than parchment paper, vacuum bags, a vacuum sealer, and a plastic freezer bag. 

I stored the smoked cheese in two portions. Once, using a quality vacuum sealer, and another one was using plastic freezer bags. Let’s expand the ideas.

How To Store Smoked Cheese Using Vacuum Sealers

When I was smoking cheese, I followed an expert’s idea to choose hard or semi-hard cheese for smoking. And I also selected cheddar cheese, which is hard cheese. 

So, I stored the smoked cheese using a vacuum sealer as follows.

• First, keep in rest the cheese after smoking for almost 24 hours
• Then, wrap it up using parchment paper thoroughly. 
• Place the smoked cheese into the fridge for 24 hours
• After that time, keep the cheese from the fridge and unwrap it
• Now, It’s time for vacuum sealing. 
• Take the cheese into any of these vacuum bags, and
• Compressed the extra air out. And seal it properly. 

The vacuum sealer worked like compressing all air throughout the plastic or polythene bag. And prevent the access of air to the bag. 

I had preserved my sealed smoked cheese for six weeks, and then I ate it. I didn’t eat it at once, so you may understand it also took time. And the cheese was like fresh cheese. 

How To Store Smoked Cheeses Using Plastic Freezer Bags

Another method I applied was using plastic freezer bags. As I told you, I stored a portion of my smoked cheese in the fridge using a vacuum sealer, and the rest I kept using a plastic bag. The 1st processing was the same as vacuum sealing.

In this process, I allowed the smoked cheese to take a breath to preserve it for a long time. 

• I placed the cheese on a wrapper after smoking.
• Then, I took a few minutes to wrap it up.
• I wrapped the cheese up and placed it into the fridge for 24 hours, along with another portion of the smoked cheese.
• Then I prepared the plastic bag for my use. At the same time, I removed the wrapping paper. 
• I put the smoked cheese into the plastic bag. 
• Then, I tried to compress the existing air by pressing it down slowly. 
• But I wasn’t confident. I then tried a trick, learned from the internet.
• I drown my plastic bag into the water slowly. 
• And the water was forcing the air to come out. 
• I was continuing it gradually until it sank to the top. 
• When I saw the bag was sinking at the level of the top of the plastic freezer bag, I stopped dropping. 
• Because there was a risk of water going into the freezer bag, it might be going in vain, therefore.
• Then I sealed the zip line of the freezer bag. And I stored it in this position. 

That’s what I did in the process to store the smoked cheese using the plastic freezer bag. I ate the smoked cheese after seven weeks as I was eating the vacuum sealer’s cheese. 

I didn’t find any noticeable distinction between the two modules of processing. In fact, these were the same.

As I knew that the smoked cheese would be okay for six to eight weeks using these two formulas, I was pretty confident to have it. I just wanted to try the tastes, if there are any differences. That’s all. 

A little Warning

But there was a matter to be warned when I sank the plastic bag into the water. If a drop of water had gone to the bag, the water might ruin my cheese.

Related: How Do You Store Raw Chicken After Opening?

Store Smoked Cheese In Fridge vs Freezer

It is a common question, what should I use for storing my smoked cheese Fridge or Freezer? Let’s check out what I did.

As I mentioned earlier, I had used my fridge for storing the smoked cheese initially. But I used my freezer to keep after the sealing process. 

It could be okay with preserving in the fridge, but I didn’t do that. When I stored the smoked cheese in the freezer, I made sure the sealing was perfect. Otherwise, the cheese would be burnt. 

You might know that only too hot doesn’t burn something; too cold also burns anything, and consequently, the product becomes ruined. 

So again, to summarize, I kept my smoked cheese right after smoking it into the fridge to let it take a breath. And then, after the individual sealing processing, I stored it in the freezer.

The vacuum sealer bag and plastic zipper bag were in my freezer. The taste of smoked cheese wasn’t different after freezing in a proper way. 

Does Smoked Cheese Go Bad?

You know everything has an expiration after a specific time. So, smoked cheese is not out of that expiration period. But it depends on the type of cheese. 

Some cheeses last longer, and some do not. In terms of the smoking version, it also becomes unhealthy and expires, based on different time spans.   

As I stored my smoked cheese for a couple of weeks, I couldn’t experiment with the actual testing time. But I have studied the bad effects of smoked cheese. 

As far as I could understand, the validity of smoked cheese lasted for around seven to eight months. Almost a quarter year! Quite a very long time. 

I asked one of my friends who preserved her smoked cheese for six months. She told me that she didn’t notice any change in the texture of smoked cheese. 

She added, she stored her smoked cheese using a vacuum sealer. So, she advised me to preserve my processed cheese with a vacuum sealer, as she found it was the best.   

Is Smoked Cheese Good For Health

Cheese is a delicious dairy product that we love to eat. Not only the taste of cheese grabs us, but also the nutrition of it. 

It has some health benefits; I would like to talk about it. Then, I’ll make you understand the question ‘Is smoked cheese good for health?’ 

First, I’m discussing the health benefits of standard cheese. Cheese is an excellent source of protein and calcium. 

It is full of fat and also sodium. So one can quickly get all the food ingredients at once. Though there is a limitation of eating for those in dieting, the rest can have it regularly. 

However, when we smoke our regular cheese, it turns to smoked cheese. However, there is no prohibition from diet experts or physicians until now in terms of smoked cheese while writing this article. 

But the thing is, when someone continues eating grilled stuff for a particular time, there is a health risk. Processed food is not secure all the time for a long time. 

So, if you are on a diet, you may not take regular cheese or smoked cheese regularly. If you take it frequently, then it’s not a problem.  

Does Smoked Cheese Last Longer Than Regular Cheese

The question is pretty much hard to define. You can utilize yourself if I give you an overview of the lasting time of regular cheese and smoked cheese.  

So, as you have already known, I used to add cheese to my different snacks, that’s why I needed to store various kinds of cheeses. 

Although I didn’t preserve a lot of cheese for a long time, I completed my reserved cheese within a couple of months. 

But what I noticed was that the texture lasted depending on what kind of cheese it was. For instance, the hard cheeses lasted longer than the semi-hard cheeses; similarly, the semi-hard cheeses lasted longer than the soft cheeses. 

In general, I came to know; one can keep the regular cheese for approximately a year in their fridge. 

It could be a hard cheese, but not a soft cheese. Whereas, I found that smoked cheese is allowed to be preserved for seven to eight months, which is a bit of a short time.

So we can come to the conclusion that smoked cheese does not last longer than regular cheese. Again, in respect of smoked cheese, there is no limitation individually for the cheese type.

So, I recommend that you finish the cheese within a couple of months. Do not take the risk of health issues.

How Long Can Smoked Cheese Unrefrigerated

It is not more than four or five hours in a very short answer from my perspective. 

When I stored my smoked cheese and wanted to eat a snack, I put the cheese bar out of the fridge to melt because it was too rough in a frozen position. 

I put the sealer bag on my kitchen table for four to five hours, then again I checked and cut my desired slice. 

What I noticed was, it started to melt within time. So I didn’t let the time flow and let the whole cheese bar melt.   

Melting means I’m not talking about melting like the hot cheese, but it’s about sweating. I think it will not be good if you keep the frozen smoked cheese overnight. 

Bacterial issues will attack it. So as soon as possible, restore the cheese bar after your cutting slice. 

I got the information by studying a lot about cheese, not to keep more time out of the fridge if someone wants to restore the smoked cheese. 

Can You Freeze Smoked Cheese

Yes. One can freeze the smoked cheese. I did this job to store my smoked cheese like other freezing stuff. In fact, I had frozen it for almost six weeks. 

Then when I used that smoked cheese, I made sure the cheese was at room temperature. And for this, I had to defrost overnight.

As far as I know, it is okay to freeze smoked cheese for six to eight weeks in general. So you can keep your extra cheese edible too.

To be honest, it would be ideal if you eat the newly smoked cheese after a few days. Because it may taste like heavy smoky outside of the cheese, and probably you do not like this. 

But you have to freeze the cheese in a proper way; otherwise, it would be spoiled and unable to be eaten.