Can We Keep Cheese At Room Temperature

Leaving cheese out overnight may impact the quality of the product but would not in most cases result in a food safety issue explains adam brock director of technical services at wisconsin milk marketing board if anything there s a good chance you re over refrigerating your cheese all cheeses besides fresh cheese should be served at room temperature for optimum flavor says brock.

Can we keep cheese at room temperature.

Ideally your refrigerator temperature should be set between 35 and 45 f 2 and 7 c for cheese keeping. According to sarah hill manager of cheese education and training for the wisconsin milk marketing board cheese can be left at room temperature for up to two hours as can all perishable foods. But benjamin chapman food safety specialist at north carolina state university says that people don t end up getting sick from. I bought some to take home with me and never refrigerated it and it was great.

As a rule of thumb soft cheeses including cottage cheese should not be kept out of a refrigerator for longer than a couple of hours. However there is a ticking clock on how long it should stay out. Bringing cheese to room temperature is essential to help the fat loosen up which gives the cheese a better texture and flavor. Soft cheeses such as cream cheese cottage cheese shredded cheeses and goat cheese must be refrigerated for safety.

Some hard cheeses can be left out of the refrigerator nearly indefinitely provided the room in which it is stored is maintained in a temperature range that does not exceed approximately 80 degrees fahrenheit and the cheese is stored appropriately. If it s too cold it mutes the flavor and if it s too warm you compromise the texture of a lot of cheeses says werlin. Room temperature between 67 and 70 degrees is ideal. The drawers in your refrigerator have the most consistent temperature and humidity so the cheese won t get too cold or too dry.

The best drawer is the one closest to the bottom of the fridge. As a general rule hard cheeses such as cheddar processed cheeses american and both block and grated parmesan do not require refrigeration for safety but they will last longer if kept refrigerated. Cheese does not like multiple changes in temperature. On a layover in amsterdam a few years ago i toured a gouda cheese factory.

Repeatedly bringing a wedge of cheese up to room temperature and then putting it back in the fridge can make the cheese spoil faster. However leftover unrefrigerated cheese should be handled differently depending on the type.