Does freezing cheese make it crumble?

[acs55812]

I had some I smoked awhile back and put in a cooler in the garage and forgot about it (couple weeks) it froze pretty hard and is now crumbling when I cut into, like it dried out (it was wrapped in plastic)

 

[chefrob]

i'm not a cheese expert but i'll bet it had to do wth the moisture and the fat separating and freezing. i'm sure someone will come along with a better answer........

 

[smokebuzz]

I get that alot with "harder" cheeses, mainly extra sharp cheddar, not sure if freezing has anything to do with it. I also see a difference with brands of cheese, Fastco(Fareway store brand), not as bad, Some very good stuff from Sam's, crumbles more to me, but the stuff from Sam's I like better. I believe some crumble more than others ,brand and type of cheese.

 

[beer-b-q]

I found this on freezing cheese and hope it helps...

 

[meljobin]

I have never smoked cheese but I do freeze it all the time. It does crumble after its been frozen but i find that if you let it sit out on the counter and let it sweat (pull it out in the morning put it in the fridge when you get home from work) it helps out tremendusly and minimizes the amount of crumbling. I do this all the time for cheddar and jack with great success but dont know if different cheeses will act the same.

 

[walle]

Short answer to this post - in blocks, YES - Every Time! If it is grated, it looks like it did when it was freshly grated.

?

I'm going to try Meljobin's suggestion next time.