I decided today to write a post on frozen cheese. Now I am talking about Jack, Cheddar…that type of hard cheese. The cheese does not arrive at the grocery store having been frozen. It is the store that freezes the cheese. I discovered this on Tillamook cheese when I complained to them about the texture of the cheese.
So how can you tell if cheese like this has been frozen? When you attempt to slice it, which normally your knife should slide right through, it crumbles, or the texture has become rough. Check out this photo of this Jack cheese. Notice on the brick of cheese the texture…
A loaf of Tillamook Jack Cheese
When you slice the cheese you will not get uniform slices.
No even slices
I used a cheese knife when slicing this cheese, so it was not the knife that caused this to crumble.
The cheese crumbles
My lasagna did not look pretty!
Not a pretty lasagna!
So what can you do when you buy a cheese that is like the one in these photos? Call your grocery store and complain! The cheese in these photos was bought at SaveMart in town. I have had this happen as well with Tillamook Cheddar that I bought at Costco!
Now go out, have a great Thursday, and thanks for stopping by!
Life in the Foothills 
Mmm. Cheese. And that Lasagna made me hungry. I love Lasagna, but it’s been a long time since I’ve had the real thing. Also, loved Placerville shot (most homey looking) and the Bison and that Forest photo and its clarity had me looking through the limbs and leaves as if I were standing on a hillside right now and trying to see the forest through the trees. So cool. Thanks for sharing your gifts. Rob H.
Thank you Rob H. for stopping by to visit! Glad you enjoyed the frozen cheese and the photos in the WordPress Photo Challenge!
I didn’t know that about the Tillamook cheese. I really like that brand. Will watch for the crumbling. Thanks for the heads up.
Any cheese, not only Tillamook, will display these characteristics if the cheese has been frozen! And, you are welcome! I am thinking of sending Tillamook these photos and letting them know where I bought the cheese. We looked into buying direct from Tillamook, but you have to buy 2,500 pounds per order…
That’s a bit too much for the weekly shopping, I suppose!
Never seen or heard of this before…. learn something new everyday by reading blog posts!!!
Artcat — I am glad to have passed on knowledge to you! Happy holidays to you and yours! ^..^
Retailers probably think most customers won’t know the difference. Although the cheese is still fine to eat it lacks its original texture and is not what the cheese-maker intended. If stores would control their inventories better then this wouldn’t happen.
I’ve seen this with chicken as well. The package has “fresh” written on it, yet the chicken is hard from being frozen and there is quite a bit of ice crystals inside the package. Bad thing with that is if it sits in the stores refrigerator case and thaws and you don’t know it was previously frozen, buy it, take it home, and then put it in your freezer it has then gone through the fresh, frozen, thawed, refrozen, then thawed again process which just isn’t a good thing for foods.
I got a really bad case of food poisoning from chicken bought at Safeway. I called the store and spoke to the store manager, who apologized profusely…We are talking sick within 3 hours of eating this, the cat wanted to help of course. I was sick for days…Apparently this particular store was selling previously frozen as fresh. I was told it depends on the store and their policies…Hmmm…Maybe folks should stop buying groceries at Safeway? Thanks for your comment!