Aged, mature cheese: no need to be refrigerated
If you have paid attention when going around the pasta aisle, you may have seen that there is parmesan on the shelves as well. This may have left you thinking that there must be some sort of mix-up since parmesan is cheese, right? And we all know that cheese needs to be refrigerated, so there must be a mix-up, right?
Well, not exactly. While keeping cheese in the fridge will prolong its shelf life, for certain types of cheese, it is not something that needs to happen from a food safety standpoint. Parmesan and Romano cheese, which are aged cheeses (and let’s be honest, they sometimes resemble a bar of traditional soap), do not need to be refrigerated in order to stay fresh.
What’s more, there are other cheeses that can also survive at room temperature, provided it is not too hot. Hard-processed cheeses are in this category, and it is generally made with cheeses like cheddar. You can easily wrap them in food-grade paper, wax paper, or even some foil and keep them in a dark, cool place until you are ready to eat them.
This may not be something that you will apply at home, but if you’re ever at a cabin and there’s not enough space in the fridge, know that these three kinds of cheese will be fine even if not refrigerated.
And if you’re looking for some help when grocery shopping, look no further than our list here which will give you some of the best tips for shopping the healthy options!
10 thoughts on “You Should NEVER Refrigerate These 5 Delicious Food Items”
It is true you should not keep your bread in your fridge, but for longer periods, you can store your it in a freezer. It may lose some nutrients, but not as much as if it were in the fridge. One area of concern is that many of the foods you buy in the store, kept cold, was delivered that way, so you should use them before a certain time( expire on a date) .
I’ve been freezing my bread for a while now and it works great.
Bread should be in the freezer the night befote its use. That way it becomes a resistant starch and wont turn into fat. Same with rice and potatoes. They should be cooked first and stay in the fridge overnight to becone a resistant starch.
You left out tomatoes. Tomatoes contain an enzyme that reacts to cold temperatures and causes its cell membrane to break down, leaving you with a piece of fruit that’s mushy and mealy. “You’re essentially zapping flavor and texture from a tomato when you refrigerate it,” says Gregory Lofts, deputy food editor at Martha Stewart Living.
Re: Pickles. What if you buy already-refrigerated pickles, like Claussen or Bubbies? I’ve always stored pickles in the refrigerator, and I’m not going to stop now. Besides, I like a cold pickle.
Thanks, I was well informed by your information. But I do like a cold pickle:-).
Some of the items mentioned like pickles say refrigerate after opening??
Don’t keep tomatoes in the fridge either. They lose flavor. There’s a compound that makes the scent of the tomato; it’s destroyed after 3 days in the fridge. if you keep your tomatoes in the fridge for even 2 days, you’re jeopardizing the compound, and thus the flavor. Keeping them in a cool, dark place is best for them.
Bananas, some say eggs, potatoes, onions, also can be kept out of the Fridge for a certain length of time.
Very interesting article. My home stays warmer than most. So leaving things on the counter worries me. My bread will get moldy fast, tomatoes get over ripe and semi ripe banana’s only last a couple of days, then I have to refrigerate them or slice them up and freeze them. I’ll start freezing my bread. Pickles have been a debate here. So now I know. Thx!