Author Topic: Cheesemongering - Shelf Life Recommendations  (Read 1877 times)

Offline george13

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Cheesemongering - Shelf Life Recommendations
« on: February 04, 2011, 03:27:40 AM »
How does one determine shelf life of a particular cheese.  Are there any guidelines out there that apply across the board, or does it vary from state to state.  I am in New York, and preparing to sell this coming spring.  If anyone out there has any info I would really appreciate it.
Thanks,

George

smilingcalico

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Re: Cheesemongering - Shelf Life Recommendations
« Reply #1 on: February 04, 2011, 05:02:51 AM »
We don't have any regulations here in Oregon in terms of shelf life.  We simply had to determine what the cheese could do by watching it.  Our fresh chevre in one type of packaging lasts only 24 days, while another lasts 30.  Really, they last a little longer, but we'd rather not have a customer buy too close to the end date and get a poor cheese.  Our hard cheese is vacuum sealed after cutting.  It could last much much longer, but we only put a 2 month limit on it.  It sells within it's time, so not much reason to extend it.
What type are you going to be selling?

Offline george13

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Re: Cheesemongering - Shelf Life Recommendations
« Reply #2 on: February 04, 2011, 11:54:42 AM »
My plan is to sell the following:
1. Chevre types plain and w/ additive spices/flavorings
2. White mould induced (whole rather than cut pieces)
3. feta in small containers w/ brine
4. one tomme style washer rind (sold as whole) probably a 2 lb unit.
5. Blue moulds sold as segments.

At first I was going to use the recommended loose wrapping for each cheese rather than vacuum. I am open to suggestions and recommendations though. I guess I need to know what others are listing as dates so that I can have some type of standard to compare when looking at my cheese.  Please feel free to suggest guidelines, I would be very grateful. Thanks

zenith1

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Re: Cheesemongering - Shelf Life Recommendations
« Reply #3 on: February 04, 2011, 01:53:25 PM »
Hi George, I'm from The Empire State also. Have you checked with the state yet? Also try to connect with Steffb503 here on the forum. She is going through the same process now.

smilingcalico

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Re: Cheesemongering - Shelf Life Recommendations
« Reply #4 on: February 04, 2011, 02:59:20 PM »
You'll want those short pull dates on the chevre and bloomy rind.  The feta can go much longer, but I'd say if you have a big container of it that you take it from, if it's free of defect, mark the date from the time you take it from there.  I have feta in my fridge that is over a year old and still good.  The tomme, not sure, maybe 6 months, maybe see if linuxboy will chime in with an answer.  Not sure of Bleu either.  You could probably go to a decent cheese counter and look at comparable cheeses and ask questions.