View topic - cheese - preserving it

I've been told that you can preserve cheese for canoe trips by putting chunks in the fridge and leaving it for a couple of days, until it hardens on the outside

We've tried every technique ever suggested to keep cheese. Dear bride Debra came up with the following method for keeping cheddar which has worked well for us on trips as long as 5 weeks. We've also found that the same process has kept any surplus cheese stable in storage in the basement for a year. Take the large block of cheddar and cut it into slices no more than an inch thick. Place those slices in a way that keeps the smallest possible amont in contact on a tray with some room between the slices to let air circulate. Put the tray with the cheese in the middle of a refrigerator that is "frost free" and leave it there for at least a week. The fridge will keep the cheese from spoiling while the frost free mechanism dehydrates the cheese. Once it is dehydrated, get it vacuum sealed. When heated, the oils in the cheese seep out a bit and will make it taste pretty much the same as it does fresh. We've had grilled cheese sandwiches at the end of a five week trip using this technique and there was no spoilage at all.