Herb Oil feta

[T-Bird]

I saw somewhere a feta marinated (aged?) in herb infused olive oil. I thought it sounded good. I made a batch of feta 6 wks ago, brined it, and today I infused some EVOO with fresh oregano, rosemary, and black peppercorns. I drained, dried some of the feta and submerged it along with the herbs in the oil. The oil was brought to 180 deg F with the herbs in it and allowed to cool. How do I store the cheese? If I put it in the fridge, the oil will look unappetizing until it's room temp and I'm not sure the herbs will infuse the cheese at 40ish deg F.

[tinysar]

I assume by "unappetizing" you are talking about the oil crystallising at low temperature? I had always wondered about that - why do my homemade evoo-marinated products go solid/cloudy, but not the storebought versions? This page says that it's because they use "winterized" olive oil, which has already had those crystals (various waxes & fats) filtered out. Some extra-virgin oil is apparently naturally low in these waxes/fats and will stay liquid without processing. Alternatively you can use canola oil - less healthy & different flavour, but it will stay liquid at fridge temps.

[NimbinValley]

In Australia this problem is overcome by adding another oil such as canola or sunflower oil in the order of 10% from memory.

NVD.

[T-Bird]

Thanks for the comments, I actually saute in canola so I have both. I will try the olive/canola combo. may just put up with the gelled look until this batch is eaten. How long to marinate? I was thinking maybe a week?

[boothrf]

T-Bird,

When I use EVOO I just take it out of the fridge 30mins before I need it and the crystallisation disappears.

The longer you marinate, the more flavour the cheese absorbs. I find mine doesn't last that long anyway  ;)

Bob

[T-Bird]

I used 1/2 EVOO and 1/2 Light O/O/ and it didn't crystalize-looks good. will let it sit 2 weeks if I can stand it!

[MacGruff]

I did the same with mine a few weeks ago - I mean I used extra virgin olive oil and dumped a whole bunch of middle-eastern herbs in there (zaatar!).

Silly me, I put it in the fridge and the next morning it was cloud and had the consistency of jelly, so since that time, it's been in a container on top of the microwave - and I've dipped in on occasion to get some cheese.

today, I went to grab some to top a salad I was having for dinner and noted that the bottom edge of the one cheese cube left is turning pink in color. I gingerly took a sliver and it tasted all right. But, does anyone have any idea where the pink color came from, and most importantly, is it time to dump it and make a new one?

Thanks for the help!

[dukegus]

When I use EVOO I just take it out of the fridge 30mins before I need it and the crystallisation disappears.

That's what I do too! I don't think there is any reason to use anything else except for EVOO except if the price concerns you.
Here in Greece it's the only thing that's left that I still have in pretty big amount so! And it tastes soooo good :)

About the pink MacGruff it's happened to me too, some kind of microorganism maybe? I ate it of course(I can never dump food...) but I haven't decided what it was.
Could be some kind of enzymatic activity too from the enzymes that are still active in the cheese...

[Tomer1]

You can use lower quality olive oil with higher acidity.  For this porpuse I think it will work just as well.

[T-Bird]

Mine is still in the fridge in the O/O which finally clouded. I am going to hold on to it. When I eat it, I'll put a "period" on this thread.