Grande Cheese Shelf Life

[pftaylor]

I recieved an email response from Grande regarding storage of their whole milk mozzarella. Their recommendation was to never freeze cheese. For best results store in refrigerator at 42 degrees or below. For best taste use within 42 days after purchase.

[Pete-zza]

I'm not surprised by Grande's response. It is a typical industry response. Most operators use the Grande fast enough that most of them have never had to think that much about freezing the cheese. It is more of a problem for home pizza makers, and especially those like yourself who have bought more than a week or two's supply. Even though Grande may not want to admit it, some operators do freeze their cheese and it is usually in shredded form, and with few noticeable negative taste/texture effects. I routinely freeze the shrink wrapped mozzarella cheese balls and even some of the fresher variety. When I asked a prominent Dallas cheese company, Mozzarella Company, whether their mozzarella cheese balls (also shrink wrapped) could be frozen, I was told yes. 

I think you may be interested in this article on cheeses, including mozzarella: http://www.pmq.com/cheesey.shtml. The article also addresses the storage issue.

I give credit to Grande however for even responding to your email. Except for yeast manufacturers, my response rate to emails sent to vendors' sites is about zero.

Peter

[pcampbell]

Hi guys,

I have a few bags of Grande and the sealed bags are condensating.  Our fridge is about 37F.  I was worried the condensation might cause mold.  Should I put the extra bags in the freezer?  I figure we'll take a few weeks to go through each 5# bag.

[widespreadpizza]

I recieved an email response from Grande regarding storage of their whole milk mozzarella. Their recommendation was to never freeze cheese. For best results store in refrigerator at 42 degrees or below. For best taste use within 42 days after purchase.

I think you mean 42 days after production.  At least thats what they told me a while back.  -marc

[JConk007]

I am freezin mine as I did last time! and it worked out just Fine.
I'll keep you posted Patrick
Thankyou for getting and giving me that great cheese! I'll see how it holds out to 800+ this weekend the whole milk worked well and held up to the heat but a bit oily
Let me know how the tomatoes are I freeze those leftovers too!
John C

[chrishay99]

I just received my first order of Grande East Coast Blend from Penn Mac.  According to the package code, the 5 lb bag I received was produced on Dec 3, or 60+ days ago.  Do you guys think I should open it and try it, or get a hold of Penn Mac about replacing it?  I hate to wait...but I also hate to waste $20+ on cheese that, according to Grande, should be used within 42 days of production when this bag clearly won't be.

Just thought I'd get some opinions, since Penn Mac is closed until Monday morning...I wanted to make pizza with Grande mozz this weekend!

[widespreadpizza]

Chris,  depends on whether you plan to keep it around for a bit after opening it.  If you are going to use it all at once,  go ahead.  If not do not plan on  keeping long after you open it,  it will start to mold very quickly.  Lastly,  you could probably have your cake and eat it too.  I would complain either way as that is just too old to be shipping.  They will probably replace it,  and you could use what you have.  -marc

[chrishay99]

Hi Marc - I sent them an email and will call again on Monday when they open.  I agree, I'm disappointed that the product was so 'well aged'.  You answered my main question, as I'm not savvy enough to know what type of life cycle this cheese will have after opening.  My other concern is using it this weekend...if it's not very representative of how Grande reacts with my pizzas, due to it's age, then I'm not going to know whether I want to use it in the future or not.

Oh well.  C'est la vie, I suppose.  Thanks for the reply.

[Pete-zza]

chrishay99,

Can you tell us how you determined the date the cheese was produced? In other words, did the label specifically give the date of production or did you have to decipher a code?

Peter

[chrishay99]

It was in the original Grande packaging and had a quality code stamped on the package.  According to Grande's website, "For pizza cheeses, the first 4 digits of the quality code are the month & day the product was produced."  The code on my package began with 1203, which would indicate a production date of 12/3.

I'm disappointed that I'm maybe not going to get the best representation of Grande cheese, but what can you do, you know?  Hopefully it won't make too much of a taste/performance difference since it hasn't been opened, but there's no way I can use 5 pounds of it in what sounds like will be a relatively short time period before it begins to spoil.

[Bob1]

I have had major problems with Grande cheese shelf life compared to other cheeses.  I get mine from Bova and have never checked the dates.  I did not know how to read the code until now.  They are a huge supplier so I am 99% sure it's fresh.  I can only assume the quality that makes it stand out also helps it spoil quicker than most.  I never keep it longer than two weeks in the fridge.  When I get it I try to immediately weigh 5 oz in separate wax paper, and then put the wax bundles in a freezer bag. I feel It freezes very well with know appreciable loss.  I learned this the hard way by watching it spoil.

Thanks,

Bob1

[Perplexy]

I just received my first order of Grande East Coast Blend from Penn Mac.  According to the package code, the 5 lb bag I received was produced on Dec 3, or 60+ days ago.  Do you guys think I should open it and try it, or get a hold of Penn Mac about replacing it?  I hate to wait...but I also hate to waste $20+ on cheese that, according to Grande, should be used within 42 days of production when this bag clearly won't be.

Just thought I'd get some opinions, since Penn Mac is closed until Monday morning...I wanted to make pizza with Grande mozz this weekend!

I just received my first order of the East Coast Blend from them yesterday as well. Mine has a production date of 11/23.

Pretty disappointing, not sure what to do.

[johnnytuinals]

If you think you will use a bag within 4 or 5 weeks you will not have a problem....
I freeze my 5lb bags of grade untill I need a bag,,,,never tasted any differance.

My case from Bova I got 2  weeks ago had a date 10/31,,,,to me I should be seeing Mold lol

[Bob1]

JT,
That's interesting.  My Bova Grande has a bad shelf life.  Maybe that's why.  I will have to check the dates next time I am there.

Thanks,

Bob

[johnnytuinals]

I also will have to check the dates also before driving down to bova.
Cannot beleave they are selling outdated chesse,because they
are also selling the stuff to places that make pizza,,,makes little sense
to sell outdated stuff since they have been in business for years.............JT

[chrishay99]

Went ahead and used the East Coast Blend last night, and thought it was great.  Can't imagine it being WAY better if not 60 days old!  Decided to freeze most of it, and hopefully it will work out okay.  Still going to check with Penn Mac though...I would think that they would not intend to ship a perishable item that is 2 months old...I will likely try to find another source if they don't see shipping old cheeses as a problem.

***EDIT***

Woke up to an email from Rose @ Penn Mac.  They are crediting me for my cheese purchase, which I think is great customer service as I had not asked them to do so.

[johnnytuinals]

UPDATED
I just called Bova and the girl says the Dates on the east coast blend
are 01/28. today
I guess I will have to start looking at the dates on the cases for now on.
But the chesse is still great tasteing but its good to know in the future.........JT

[johnnytuinals]

NEWEST UPDATE

I have a few empty Grande Chesse boxes lying around....
I took the wrong date off of the recent case of chesse I bought.
The REAL date
12/31
I was kinda worried I had a case of outdated  chesse,,,,but I am glad
I look on the bag and found the box with the same date......JT