Cheese Storage
Some tips from around the web.
- General:
- Each time a cheese is opened, it should be rewrapped in new wrapping.
- Cheese wrapped in plastic wrap should be opened and allowed to breathe every few days.
- Wrap the cheese in wax paper, parchment paper, or butcher paper, then overwrap with plastic or foil.
- Soft-ripened and washed-rind cheese:
- These prefer a humid, cool environment. Fridge air can dry them out.
- Store in your refrigerator’s produce bin, which has higher humidity than the designated cheese bin in refrigerator doors.
- Alternatively, refrigerate the wrapped cheese in a cardboard box or in a plastic container with the lid slightly ajar.
- Add a small, damp towel to the bottom of the container or refrigerator drawer in which they are stored. Change the towel every two days.
- Soft-ripened cheeses, such as Brie, can be wrapped as above, or can be placed on a small plate and covered with plastic wrap. A small plastic food storage container also works.
- Hard Grating Cheese (eg Parmesan):
- These cheeses have little moisture and do not need to breathe.
- Blue Cheese:
- Because of their strong smell, they should be stored away from other cheeses.
- Fresh cheeses (Feta, Mozzarella, Ricotta):
- Highly perishable so should not be left out in the open.
- Should be stored in container in which they were sold.
- Keep covered with whey (mozzarella) or brine( feta) as appropriate.
More: Avoid a Bad Wrap | Storing Cheese
Photo By fd
Video: Good Slaughter, Bad Slaughter
Bad - Peta puts together a compelling case for the inhumanity of the meat industry.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://meat.org/mym3_track.swf" height="375" width="500" /]
Good - This is Our Slaughterhouse tells an althogether more human story.
Bottom Line: Eat pasture raised animals that have not suffered for your dinner. Choose grass fed cows. Choose the eggs of free-run chickens and not the product of stressed out battery hens. Animals need not be treated as prisoners of war to allow us to eat meat.
And remember: Organic does not mean humane. Choose happy meat. 
What makes a pig organic?
Organic does not mean humane
This is a tale of two pigs. The first – let’s call him Soren – is reared in Denmark. For the first few months of his life, he lives a cramped existence in a barn. This pink, flabby creature is castrated so that his meat won’t taste too strong. When at last he is allowed outside, his only freedom is a small concrete run. At a young age, he is killed and turned into bacon, using potassium nitrate and sodium nitrite. When you put slices of him in a pan, white watery liquid runs out.
The second – let’s call him Juan – was lucky enough to be born in the Iberian peninsula. He is sleek, black and hairless, a descendant of the original wild boar. Juan spends his life munching acorns among the oak trees. By the standards of animals destined for pork, he is allowed to live a long, calm life. He is only killed when he is 20 months, oldish for a pig, after which time his flesh is cured in sea salt until his fat turns to oleic acid, a fatty acid similar to that in olive oil. Juan is now jamón ibérico de bellota . When you eat slices of him, the salty flesh melts in your mouth.
It should be perfectly obvious which pig has led a better life and makes for better food. But there is one further crucial difference between the two. Because he has had only organic feed and has not suffered the worst indignities of factory farmed pigs – overcrowding and no access to outdoor space – Soren the Danish pig ends his life in a British supermarket labelled “organic”. Whereas Juan, for technical reasons, doesn’t qualify for the organic label.
Popcorn
Seems the Oscars has everyone talking about popcorn. How to make it, how to make it with style and the economics of it.
Previous Stories
- February 25th, 2008 | Factoid: Quince
