Found a 1950s cookbook with a wild food fact about canned cheese

I grabbed this beat up old cookbook from a library sale for 50 cents, like from 1953, called "Quick Meals for Busy Families." Flipping through it, I found a whole section on how to make Velveeta cheese last for months without refrigeration. It said to just leave it wrapped in wax paper in a cool closet, and it would keep for up to 6 months. That blew my mind, like people just trusted that cheese wouldn't go bad in their pantry. Has anyone else come across old food storage advice that sounds crazy now?

2 comments

2 Comments

richard_west51d ago

My grandma used to keep a block of cheddar wrapped in vinegar soaked cloth in her pantry for months. She swore that trick kept it from molding or going bad. I tried it once with some sharp cheddar and honestly it worked fine for like two months before I finally ate it. Just old school food preservation methods that people trusted way more than we do now with all our fancy refrigeration.

umaadams1d ago

Wait, did that vinegar cloth trick actually stop mold from growing or did it just make the cheese taste like salad dressing? @richard_west5, how long did you leave it in your pantry before you started worrying about it? I don't get how any cheese can sit out for months without going bad when the dairy section at my store says use within a week if opened. Old food storage rules sound like they were based on people just being willing to eat slightly funky cheese and calling it fine.