Sometimes I think of one, then immediately think,
"Oh, everyone knows that."
Or, "Oh, no one cares about that."
But what the heck. Here we go. This is a cheesy tip.
I buy a lot of cheese.
(Back when I had dairy goats in Colorado, I also made a lot of cheese, but that was another lifetime.)
Sometimes I buy provolone or swiss. Occasionally - because it is both pricey and not available nearby - a nice gruyère. (Cauliflower baked with cream and gruyère is one of my favorite foods on this Earth.) But mostly, I buy good, stout, flavorful cheddars. I stock up when it's on sale, put a couple of packages in the fridge for slicing and snacking, and the rest goes straight into the freezer.
Now, freezing changes the texture of cheddar; this is widely known. It becomes impossible to slice and serve neatly. It fractures. Many people see this as a cheesy flaw. A reason not to freeze cheddar.
BUT.
This very quality can be a cheesy virtue! If you use cheddar in any sort of shredded or grated form, freezing a block can save you time, money (if you usually buy shredded cheese), and, in my case at least, the occasional skinned knuckle from using that darned box grater. Because a chunk of cheddar that has been frozen can be easily crumbled into any size pieces you prefer.
See? Big knobbly pieces:
If you let a frozen block of cheddar thaw for a while, you can then break it up quickly with the tines of a fork. Or if you put the block in a ziplock bag, you can crumble it into bits with your fingers, using very little pressure.
See? Tiny little bits:
Do you already do this?
Does everyone?
I'm positive no one "taught" me to do this, so maybe it isn't common knowledge and is a Genuine Tip.
I hope so.
It sure saves me a lot of time, and the frustration of trying to open bandaids for my knuckles. If anyone has a tip for that, I hope you'll write about it!
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