Stop Crumbling Goat Cheese On Salads — Try This Handy Freezer Trick Instead
When it comes to interesting and delicious cheese to put on your pizza or adding tons of tangy flavor to your burger with just one ingredient, goat cheese is (literally and figuratively) the GOAT.
In fact, the only true downside to adding goat cheese to every salad you consume is the inevitable mess. Soft varieties of goat cheese fall under the broad category of fresh cheese because they're soft, spreadable, and aged for just a short time. Though tangy, flavorful, and readily available in most grocery stores, goat cheese's signature silky texture makes it hard to evenly distribute in salads without coating your fingers (and counter) in cheesy residue. Fortunately, the solution is to simply freeze your cheese and grate the frozen log over your food.
A small log of goat cheese will freeze to the right texture in about an hour, allowing you to use a microplane or hand grater to distribute it like Parmesan over your favorite style of salad. Afterward, wrap it tightly in at least one layer of freezer-safe plastic wrap and place it in a small freezer bag labeled with the date. As long as you re-wrap it tightly after each use, it should remain fresh for up to three months.
No mess, no fuss: frozen goat cheese FTW
Since frozen goat cheese grates fairly smoothly and easily, this technique allows you to control exactly how much cheese you add to your salad. Use a microplane for a light, snowy dusting of cheese over a smoky grilled romaine and corn salad with herby mustard dressing, or use the larger holes on a handheld grater to shave larger, dense pieces of goat cheese on your chicken Cobb in place of blue cheese. There's also very little waste this way, as there won't be any extra clinging to your hands or utensils.
Freezing your goat cheese also gives it a much longer shelf life. Rather than hurrying to use it up within a week after opening it, you have 90 full days to enjoy it by thoughtfully planning meals and recipes around it. The texture also isn't adversely affected when frozen and thawed, so there's nothing stopping you from buying it in bulk, which is often less expensive than purchasing the tiny logs one at a time. Frozen goat cheese is also easily sliced or cubed to add to charcuterie boards, as it thaws quickly and remains fairly creamy once cut up.
Of course, all of this is provided that you take the time to properly rewrap leftover cheese after grating or slicing it up. To make this easier, have a fresh square of cling wrap ready to go so you can simply roll it up and toss it back into the freezer.
