Oh the power of cheese

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If anyone is interested in storing cheese. Take a brick of your favorite cheese and coat it in parafin. Walla your cheese is safe and you can store it for months. Air is the destroyer of cheese. You will notice that a wheel of cheese has a coating on it. That protects it. Once the wheel is cut the preservation of the cheese is now compromised. So cheese lovers everywhere all you need is some blocks of parafin and your favorite cheese. Melt the parafin and coat each of the four or two (if its a wedge the round side is coated leaving two sides open) with one dip let cool or put in cold water and coat one more time. If doing swiss make sure you get the parafin in the holes. It is easy to remove just cut off one end as you use it. If you have any of the brick left and want to save it recoat.

-- Susan Barrett (sue59@bellsouth.net), November 05, 1999

Answers

You HAVE to be kidding? Put wax all over your food? I mean hell you could also dip your cheese in bronze and it will keep indefinately, but the question is..."do you want to?".

-- (this@is.a joke right?), November 05, 1999.

Nope, waxing cheese is not a joke, but it is not that easy either. My experience is that the melted parafin is hot, and thus heats up the cheese as well. Heated cheese makes oil. Oil makes the parafin slide off. Any suggestions to fix this problem would be welcome. Better yet, where can you buy cheese that is already covered in wax. At the stores they but it in larger waxed wheels and then cut it up to sell it again.

-- smfdoc (smfdoc@aol.com), November 05, 1999.

You HAVE to be kidding? Put wax all over your food?

but the question is..."do you want to?".

Hey, I'm making 2.5 pounds of goat cheese a week, from one doe. And you had better believe it that I'm not eating that much per week. You gotta store it somehow. btw, it is recommended that a bit of olive oil is added to the parrafin to make the cooled wax more supple.

-- Mitchell Barnes (spanda@inreach.com), November 05, 1999.


geez guys ..

how bout just putting a piece of saran wrap around the exposed part of the cheese first, then coating it with paraffin? it would keep all those swiss cheese holes open for sure.

-- lou (lanny1@ix.netcom.com), November 05, 1999.


"Oh the power of cheese."

Don't forget the power of chili, hard-boiled eggs and a sixer of Miller.

Very powerful indeed.

A protective coating that will clear an area up to 100 feet.

Just ask Greybear.

--Got Beano?

BTW, don't forget there is a distinct difference in protecting the cheese and cutting it.

Thought you'd like to know. I'm jes a little giddy today.

-- INVAR (gundark@sw.net), November 05, 1999.



actually i heard that you should dip the cheese in a salt water brine and let it sit for a day prior to waxing. i have heard too many stories of mold appearing under the wax for novice cheese waxers so this may reduce that.

-- tt (cuddluppy@yahoo.com), November 05, 1999.

what about the cheesecloth? i heard that should be under the wax.

-- tt (cuddluppy@yahoo.com), November 05, 1999.

The British name for kerosene is paraffin. Please do not coat your cheese with this stuff! Susan means paraffin wax.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), November 05, 1999.

Smfdoc

You can find some of the best cheese (in parafin) at the Miss. State University web site (www.msstate.edu/dept/fst/homepage/salesstore). Go Dogs!! The Chief

-- The Chief (The Chief@aol.com), November 05, 1999.


Is there more than one type of paraffin? ie edible vs inedible?

-- (rcarver@inacom.com), November 05, 1999.


There are some excellent threads on this in the Prep Forum's archives. Also in Michael Hyatt's Discussion Forum archives on prep. under Food.

-- Elaine Seavey (Gods1sheep@aol.com), November 05, 1999.

In the 1930's, flavored parafin was sold as chewing gum.

dave

-- dave (wootendave@hotmail.com), November 05, 1999.


Old Git,

LOL! I can't number how many sites I've seen where they've referred to wax simply as parrafin, in regards to various food storage methods, such as the above mentioned cheese storage technique...I bet this has led to a lot of head-scratching, over on the Isles.

-- Bokonon (bok0non@my-Deja.com), November 05, 1999.


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