Serving & Storage | United States | Goat Lady Dairy | Climax, NC (2024)

FAQs

How long does a goat cheese log last once opened? ›

Goat cheese can be stored packaged in the refrigerator for up to 3 months and unpacked for 2 to 3 weeks. The Best By date (MMDDYY) is estimated for your convenience on each cheese.

Goat cheese comes with a “Best By” date on its packaging. This date is not an expiration or food safety date. Instead, the “Best By” date indicates how long a product will be at its peak flavor and quality. Therefore, you'll want to enjoy your cheese before or on the “Best By” date.

Not long. USDA recommends tossing it after a couple of hours at room temperature. Goat cheese, even with it's lactic acid content and salt, is a “fresh” soft cheese, intended for immediate consumption. There is no way to store it safely at room temperature.

Once the carton is opened, we recommend use within 5 to 7 days, stored at the back of the refrigerator for optimum storage quality. To extend the shelf life of the fresh milk, you can freeze the milk for up to 6 months in an airtight container, leaving room for expansion during freezing.

Goat cheese has a refreshing, tangy smell and firm texture. If you notice rancid, sour smells, slimy textures, or mold, it's time to replace your batch.

1) Freshness of the Milk

To sum it up in a nutshell, goat's milk goes bad much faster than cow's milk. The reason behind this? Goat's milk is naturally hom*ogenized, unlike its cow counterpart. As a result, goat's milk ages much quicker.

Most of the time, if you see some mold, you can just cut it off—about an inch around and below the mold spot, if you want to be really rigorous about it—especially if you're working with a harder cheese. Still grossed out? Throw it out.

So long as you still like the taste, the cheese is fine. Just be aware that the flavor will intensify on most cheeses over time. If the small bite of cheese makes your tongue, lips or cheek tingle or burn, the cheese is bad (even if it passed the look and smell tests).

Freezing goat cheese

Technically, you can freeze goat cheese. This extends its shelf life, but can change its texture. Especially hard and semi-hard cheeses are more suitable for freezing than soft cheeses, because soft cheeses have a higher moisture content that affects the texture more after freezing.

Well, no need to panic. You can wrap each cheese individually in parchment paper, aluminum foil or plastic wrap. Or you could opt for a cheese box which not only stores your cheeses easily, but also keeps them apart from other foods stored in the refrigerator.

Is goat cheese healthy? ›

Goat cheese is a nutritious dairy product that is packed with vitamins, minerals and healthy fats. Eating goat cheese may benefit your health in several ways, including increasing satiety and reducing inflammation.

Butter and margarine are safe at room temperature. However, if butter is left out at room temperature for several days, the flavor can turn rancid so it's best to leave out whatever you can use within a day or two.

Summary. All in all, it is perfectly safe to freeze Raw Dairy Products. While certain Vitamins, like Vitamin C, may diminish overtime, the overall nutrient content stays the same and the beneficial bacteria come back to life once thawed.

Bad milk has a strong sour smell. It is also usually lumpy in texture. It is not likely that you will mistake milk that has gone bad. Milk turns sour due to the small number of bacteria that survived the pasteurization process having time to multiply and produce lactic acid.

Milk in a clean environment; make sure your hands and equipment are clean. Strain the milk into a glass or stainless steel storage container right after milking. Chill the milk as soon as possible after milking to inhibit the growth of bacteria that contribute to spoilage.