I have been asked this for many years and I always say no, because I think that it is a violation of my cheese ethics to freeze cheese.
So I finally tried it with several of our brie and camembert cheeses. I kept the cheeses in the freezer for two weeks. To my surprise, and frankly, my dismay they were all perfectly ripe when I defrosted them.
As I just noted, I was terribly disappointed when I defrosted them on Tuesday, two weeks after freezing them. They were all as perfect as the day that I froze them. One exception was the Le Petit Bleu; it became a bit grainy but the flavor was fine.
So yes, you can freeze brie and camembert. I checked them again 4 days later after defrosting and they tasted fine. Please don't ask me to see what happens if you freeze them twice!
And even though our experiment was a success, I still recommend enjoying our cheeses when they are ripe which occurs around 28 days prior to the "Best Buy" date. My favorite time is between 21 to 15 days prior to the "Best Buy" Date.
Hullo from Vancouver, Canada. I found this post when I was looking for advice about freezing soft-ripened cheeses. I had just held an informal cheese tasting of Brie and Camembert - see the story on my website
ReplyDeletehttp://www.reviewfromthehouse.com/sipping-and-supping/food-thought/sassys-taste-soft-ripened-bloomy-rind-cheeses
and have quite a bit over. Apart from making a quiche, and using it in an omelette I thought I would try freezing some. Your post has encouraged me to try. Thanks
Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteThank you, I guess just eating it up is best
ReplyDeleteWhew! I can't tell you how relieved I am to read this. I am an amateur cheesemaker with a lovely Jersey cow, named Delilah. I have had some success with brie and I was excited to open up a new one for our guests later today when I discovered that my new (to me) milk/cheese fridge had frozen everything solid! I hate wasting Delilah's glorious milk by making dumb mistakes, but it looks like all will turn out well upon thawing. Thanks for the good news!
ReplyDeleteWow. Thank you. Bought half a wheel of Brie cheese for Christmas and so did my sister-in-law. Even my cheese living family could not eat it all.
ReplyDeletethank you so much!
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