How to tell if cheese is off?

[QRM]

I drove past an open back truck with a load of workers in ragged t-shirts sitting on boxes of food stuff marked "keep refrigerated",

Which made me wonder about all these exotic cheeses you can now buy, sure the shop has fancy cool-rooms staffed by ladies with nice aprons and hats but what happens between the time it comes out of the cows/goat/lama udders to it arriving on your plate?

When I buy a piece thats is covered in a thick layer of green mould, smells like it came out the non-barking end of a dog and when cut it oozes on the worktop should I eat it?

[merichan]

When I buy a piece thats is covered in a thick layer of green mould, smells like it came out the non-barking end of a dog and when cut it oozes on the worktop should I eat it?

Guess it depends if it is supposed to look and smell like this or not

[Plavt]

May be something here to guide you;

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Q-A/Mold.htm

The mold doesn't seem too much of a problem as you can always cut it away, don't like the sound of it oozing when you cut it though....

[QRM]

When I buy a piece thats is covered in a thick layer of green mould, smells like it came out the non-barking end of a dog and when cut it oozes on the worktop should I eat it?

Guess it depends if it is supposed to look and smell like this or not

I don't know what its is suppose to look and smell like, I expect the young lady/student serving it with a shriveled nose wont have a clue. There is never a picture of what the cheese should look and smell like, for all I know the shop owner is just trying to shift a truck load of cheese. Its not like the more exotic variety has any form of sell by date. The only warning I have seen is "un-pasteurized not to be eaten by pregnant women or the elderly".

While on the subject how do you know when you can and can't eat the rind? I can figure out its not good form at a dinner function to eat the bright red one that can double up as candles but the others?

[durain]

you sure it is cheese and not durian?

[merichan]

@Durain sometimes you indeed wonder the difference


@QRM For the Rind... I personnally observed that in general you would eat the rind of cheese like Brie, Camembert...

While you tend to leave the rind of hard cheese ( parmesan, etc. )

But there is no absolute rule... especially as the rind is among the most lively and tasty part of cheese... something a bit too much for taste... so people cut it off...

p.s. for things like roquefort... being green and smelly absolutely normal...

[QRM]

I had a cheese called "stinky bishop" in a restaurant and was almost embarrassed for the next table, it really smelt like something you would scrap off your shoe at a The Croft show. I cant even imagine how desperately hungry the first bloke who ever tried it must have been at the time, but tastes surprisingly mild.

[durain]

i saw this on gordon ramsay show - left the cheese outside for the flies to lay their eggs. the eggs hatched into maggots and eat the cheese, and that's when the cheese is ready for sale. diners would eat the cheese together with the maggots!

anyone got the stomach to try it on durian?

[cbavasi]

I had a cheese called "stinky bishop" in a restaurant and was almost embarrassed for the next table, it really smelt like something you would scrap off your shoe at a The Croft show. I cant even imagine how desperately hungry the first bloke who ever tried it must have been at the time, but tastes surprisingly mild.

i LOVE stinking bishop cheese! there used to be this cheese shop in the underground at victoria station and i would buy the loveliest smelliest cheeses! unfortunately one day in august the train got stuck and the people around kept looking at me funny... then i remembered the cheese under my seat and i wanted to shout out "no, no! it's not me! it's the CHEEEEESE!"

[Splatted]

Cheese is a bit like bananas.

When they are shipped around the world, they are usually matured in transit.

I don't know what they do about temperature, though.

As a rule of thumb, if your block of cheese grows feet and walks off the table, it's time to buy a new one.