Cheap Cheese, Revisited
Last night I felt a pang of hunger, and decided to bake a potato. After the potato was suitably cooked, I cracked it open and added some cheese to improve the flavor of the tuber. Searching the fridge, I found two cheeses, some pepper-jack cheese, and some of the Red Dragon cheese I purchased about two months ago. The Red Dragon was fine, just a bit dry around the edges, so I cut it up and put it on my potato. I added some hot pepper cheese too, just for good measure.
After eating the potato and going to bed, Madalene asked why I smelled like mustard. “Why, it is because of the Red Dragon cheese I consumed, which is made with whole mustard seeds, lending to its delicious quality,” I replied.
Madalene was shocked that I would eat two month old cheese. My retort was that since cheese is supposed to be aged anyway, that an extra two months wasn’t going to hurt anything. In fact, the cheese was even better than I remember, suggesting that perhaps the extra aging actually improved the cheese. I contended that there was no mold on the cheese, and that it had been well protected by both its red wax rind, and well secured plastic wrap. Since Red Dragon is a fairly hard cheese, the moisture content is low, and mold would not be likely to take hold.
She didn’t believe my claims, and insisted that I would throw up soon. However, I’m fine today, so I’m going to continue to eat old cheese.
3 comments Friday 07 Nov 2003 | Sam | Personal
Sam,
is the dragon cheese a live or dead cheese? I presume that since we are in America, it is made with pasturized milk. Well, I don’t know much about that type, but I have been told that plastic wrap kills the aging of a fine live cheese. In fact, many french cheeses are aged until you cut them open and they literally run out of the rind. So I say enjoy the old cheese!
and
vive la France!
cheese is evil unless it comes shredded in a plastic ziplock bag that says kraft
Will, I’m not sure if it is live or dead cheese. However, I think it is pretty likely alive, because it is a ‘fancy’ cheese from Holland. It was likely aged for a year or more before I even bought it. I might do some more research and find out if it is pasteurized or not.
And Billy… I don’t know what to do with you.