Buying feta cheese always results in larger quantities. You want to use it for that great salad with honey and nuts and used about half of it. What should you do with the other half? How long can you store it? Does feta cheese go bad?
Yes, feta cheese will go bad, just like other cheeses do. Making a plan for the leftovers is not hard but requires action.
Feta cheese comes in blocks and smaller, crumbled pieces, their shelf life isn’t the same.
In this article, we will cover the different types of feta cheese and talk about their shelf life, how to store it, and spoilage.
Enjoy the read!
How Long Can Feta Cheese Last
We will start as usual with a quick table for your convenience:
Feta Cheese | Pantry | Refrigerator |
---|---|---|
Unopened block (whole) | / | Sell-by date + up to 4 weeks (1 month) |
Unopened small parts (crumbled) | / | Sell-by date + 1 week |
Leftovers | / | Up to 1 week (7 days) |
Leftovers (all in brine) | / | Up to 4 weeks (1 month) |
It is clear that we will divide our article about feta cheese into a few sections and talk about whole blocks of feta cheese and smaller pieces, of crumbled feta cheese.
Usually, your feta cheese will come with a date, so you can start from there. As with all products, try to consume them within the indicative timeframe or as quickly as you can.
Shelf Life For Blocks of Feta Cheese
When it comes to large blocks of feta cheese, you’ll have those that are opened and unopened.
Unopened blocks of feta cheese will last up to about 3 months. Don’t keep it longer than 1 month after the printed date on the product.
Of course, opening the product sets the door open for external threats like heat, odors, air, sunlight, bacteria, and so on… So their shelf life will be heavily reduced.
When you don’t place it in brine, it will last up to 1 week (7 days). If submerged in the brine, you can keep it fresh for about 1 month (4 weeks).
Shelf Life For Crumbled Feta Cheese
Crumble feta cheese will be sold in packs, submerged in brine or not submerged in the brine. This makes a difference of course in extending their shelf life.
Unopened crumble feta cheese will last for about 1 week after the printed date.
Of course, submerging them into a brine solution will extend their shelf life for about up to 4 weeks.
Please always check the sell-by date on the cheese the moment you open it and store it in the brine. Storing feta cheese, that didn’t come into a brine, into a brine solution of your own wont make it last long past that. Some cheeses will last a bit longer, some will go bad before that date. Try to consume it within a reasonable timeframe.
How To Store Feta Cheese
Feta cheese is a special cheese and shouldn’t be viewed the same as other cheeses when it comes to storage.
Feta cheese relies much on the brine they’re with.
Brine is a solution made of salt and water. This brine stores and extends the life of the products that are submerged in it. Think about pickles.
When you go to the store or markets, you’ll buy feta in larger quantities, blocks, and smaller quantities, crumbled. The blocks will be in brine and the crumbled ones will be ready for direct use.
Don’t hesitate about placing the feta cheese as soon as possible in your refrigerator after buying them. This is the same for larger qualities of feta cheese and smaller qualities.
A lot of people underestimate the impact your feta cheese can undergo when being bought on a hot summer day and not stored in the fridge directly. That’s why storing it in a special cooling bag can help you a long way.
Storing Blocks of Feta Cheese
Storing blocks of feta cheese can be quite simple when they’re unopened: you can leave them in their original package.
Things change when you open the package and leave the door open for external threats like heat, air, other odors, sunlight, and so on.
Are you going to consume it within the next few days or not? If not, you can place it in a plastic bag, 2 plastic bags (double-bagging them), or in an airtight container and place it back in the fridge. Make everything is sealed tight.
If you want to extend the shelf life of your feta cheese, you can submerge it fully into the brine, a solution you can easily make yourself at home: per cup of water, add 1 teaspoon of salt and make sure all of your feta cheese us submerged in the solution.
Storing Crumbled Feta Cheese
This is of course much the same for crumbled cheese as it was for blocks of cheese.
When you’ve unopened the package, you can leave it as that. From the moment you open it up, make sure you seal everything tight. Usually, you can do this in the same pack, but you can also transfer everything to another plastic bag, 2 plastic bags (double-bagging them), or an airtight container.
You can also extend the shelf life of the crumbled cheese by submerging it into the brine, make sure all of the cheese is submerged in the brine.
When your feta cheese tastes a bit too salty, let it rest for about 15 minutes just in water, reducing the amount of salt in the feta cheese.
If you’re sure to have a lot of cheese left, you can also opt for freezing these leftovers.
Can You Freeze Feta Cheese
Yes, of course, you can freeze feta cheese, just like other foods and cheeses out there. But should you?
We always ask this question because we want you to think consciously about consuming feta cheese and also managing your inventory. The capacity of your freezer isn’t unlimited, so we need to overthink what we will store in that.
Try to do the following:
- divide the feta cheese into single-serving portions
- Place them into freezer bags, plastic bags, or an airtight container
- Label the package with the correct sell-by date and date and time of freezing.
When thawing the cheese, there is always some risk of quality loss. That’s why we don’t like to freeze cheese.
More information about freezing feta cheese is in this article.
How Can You Tell If Feta Cheese Has Gone Bad
When it comes to looking for signs of spoiled feta cheese, we need to trust and rely on our senses and intuition. The decision must be made by yourself, we can’t make this for you.
Guidelines for telling if feta cheese has gone bad:
- Does the feta cheese have another darker color? If yes, toss it away immediately, don’t start by cutting the bad parts away from the cheese. Don’t take this risk as this can also be a sign of mold.
- Is the feta cheese fully submerged in the brine? How are the color and texture? If the colors are darker (see above) and the texture is slimy, just discard everything.
- Does the feta cheese have a sharp smell? If you smell something sour or unpleasant, toss it away.
- How is the taste? The last step, does it taste off or sour? Get rid of it and rinse your mouth with water.
We always say on GoodOrGoneBad, that if there’s doubt involved, you should try and think about these signs of spoilage or just, because of the doubt, toss it. There’s no reason to consume spoiled or likely spoiled feta cheese.
We want to avoid food poisoning. While you won’t taste something, it’s perfectly possible you will be poisoned and suffer from different symptoms. It’s just not worth it, toss it and buy new feta cheese at the store.
Enjoy your feta cheese!