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Hard cheeses, yes. Soft cheeses, no.
That is a very coarse categorisation. Really hard cheese, like parmigiano reggiano, is almost always already “contaminated”, which is why the last few centimetres towards the crust shouldn’t be eaten.
For anything softer than that, f.i. middle-aged Gouda or Emmental, I wouldn’t risk it, as the mould will already be spread far wider than visible.
Wait, so all these years I’ve cut the mold off my blocks of cheddar I’ve been eating the mold? Damn
Yep. The part you see is just the fruiting body, the roots of the mold go deep and you won’t see them.
https://www.foodandwine.com/how-to-add-flavor-to-soups-and-stews-with-parmesan-rinds-7373158
Yeah, there still are heaps of MSG in them and therefore a lot of traditional “cucina povera” recipes make use of them.
Still, at least for parmigiano reggiano, modern food science has found that the mold living in the cheese dairies penetrates the rind several centimetres deep and is almost ubiquitous.
Likely it is as always: the dose makes the posion.
“the dose makes the posion.”. Well said
Why is it a no for soft cheese?
Because what you see that we call mold is the fruit of a vast root system. In hard cheese if you can cut an inch or two in every direction from the mold you likely will get the root system with it. With a soft cheese (or bread) that root system is likely spread through the food pretty thoroughly.
Look at Mr Money bags over here, throwing away 3-4 inches of cheese when even the store brand stuff is like $15 a block!
Hard cheeses are dense enough that the mold can only grow on the surface. If you cut off the moldy parts and discard them, you’re getting rid of the vast majority of the mold. There will likely be some spores on the rest of the cheese, but not enough to harm you.
Soft cheeses are much less dense, meaning that the mold can penetrate below the surface more easily. If you can see mold on top then it’s likely throughout the cheese, and thus it’s much less safe to eat.
I didn’t know this and don’t want to know this.
Which part?
Mold has roots, they’re everywhere under the fuzzy part, and apparently can’t see them.
Yes, absolutely do not eat moldy bread. It is all up in there.
Official answer: no, there are microscopic fibers of mold probably all throughout the cheese
Real answer: if you’ve got a normal immune system it’s probably fine
Important distinction in that real answer. I’m immunocompromised and take no chances with stuff like this, its also not something they REALLY specified in my talks before leaving the hospital.
“Stay away from pathogens and you’ll be alright”
“Well how do I …”
“Next!”
One example is that since I told them I don’t smoke weed, they didn’t bother to tell me to avoid THC altogether because it interferes with the medicine I take. Thankfully, it was never an issue, but what if I decided to try some edibles or something?
That’s fine but for most normal people exposure to pathogens actually strengthens their immune system. Children of germaphobes are much more likely to have immune issues and allergies
Being fine for normal people is sort of the point I was making, MOST advice for stuff like this comes with the assumption that you have an normal immune system. I don’t expect everything to have a little aside for people like me, but I appreciate it when I see it because learning the hard way isn’t a very fun option.
But afaik the mold can’t go that far on hard products like cheese
No, that’s incorrect.
Lol I do like lemmy because I fucking recognize you Aux. You’re on my shit list and I guess I know why. See you next time.
If it’s a firm cheese, you are probably fine. Where I’m from, it’s pretty common knowledge that mold on regular firm cheese is pretty much contained within the visible spot and ~1-2 cm outwards from the spot. So cut away a decent chunk around the spot, and you’ll probably be fine.
Disclaimer: I know nothing, I have no sources and I take no responsibility.
That disclaimer is STRONG
In Sweden, where I live, the equivalent of FDA (I guess) says that firm cheese is fine too eat as long as you cut off 2 cm from the moldy part.
Most people here saying it’s fine for hard cheese but not for soft ones or bread. I mean, they’re not wrong. But you asked about a tiny bit of mould.
I’ve removed the mouldy parts of hard cheese, soft cheese, cream cheese, breads, and fruits, and have eaten the rest more times I can remember. I never got sick from it. If you are considering eating what’s left of food after discarding a mouldy part, make sure to judge by smell and sight as well. Does it stink? Is the color off? Taste a little bit, is it bitter or sour? If the answers to all these are “no”, then it’s very likely safe.
This is just not true. From a food safety perspective, if there’s mould and it’s a soft food, it’s contaminated. You can absolutely get sick from foods without visible signs of spoilage (not to mention there is a visible sign, mould, but we’re ignoring that.)
That said, I will sometimes take the risk by cutting off the mould. I would never serve it to someone else without letting them know the risks. If you do this you need to understand it’s a gamble.
Wait. Your parents just …let you waste cheese like that? I would have gotten my ass kicked if I threw out that contaminated cheese. The risk of being scolded significantly outweighs the risk of getting sick.
Also, mycotoxins bioaccumulate. You might not get sick now, but you’re definitely increasing your chance of future illness and potentially reduced lifespan.
Wait what. I thought kidneys and liver would handle small amounts of those toxins.
They can handle it, and they do filter it out of you, but it is a slow process that takes a lot of time compared to how the body processes other waste products. The danger is that mycotoxins are harmful in extremely small amounts, so any extended accumulation is harmful.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0026265X22010207#:~:text=Mycotoxins are bioaccumulated in human,all liver samples is demonstrated.
Thanks for the link. That was interesting. If I read that correctly, it seems to prove that enniatin B has been found in human livers. That compound appears to linger in the tissue long enough that it can be detected, but I didn’t notice any reference to that level being safe or unsafe. I guess it’s up to other studies to explore the LD50 now that we know it can be found in the liver.
Exactly. It seems like a lot of the research in this area is quite new (last 5 years or so), so we’re always learning more! And from my understanding, the LD50 probably isn’t that important for most people for these toxins, it’s more at what levels do they start causing detectable symptoms and by how far do they raise your risk of cancers and other diseases. “The poison is in the dose”, but just because it doesn’t kill you instantly doesn’t mean it’s not hurting you in the long term.
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I think it’s obvious it is a gamble, in fact I’ve said in my first paragraph that it’s true, one can get sick.
But, so far I’m yet to win the lottery, and I’ve never given something I’ve chucked the mold off to anyone without informing them.
I believe people have the right to make their informed decisions. We all take risks on a million things in our lives.
I agree with you that informed risks can be reasonable, I don’t leave the house with a helmet. I just don’t think it was clear enough from your original post that doing that is risky.
I’m a food service manager, and I have to train people all the time that “looks fine” does not mean “is fine”. There’s food I 100% would never serve at work but would eat myself. I feel like the distinction between what’s foodsafe and what you personally feel comfortable with needs to be stressed.
Fair enough
Yes! Using all of one’s senses is crucial. I for one won’t eat those strawberries that scream when you bite into them.
I prefer the ones who moan in pleasure as you bite into them
And that’s enough of this thread
“No, please! Keep going!” moaned the thread, not nearly ready to be be done yet.
The issue is less that it will make you sick and more that you’re likely eating a potent carcinogen. Many of the molds that commonly grow on food produce aflatoxins.
Yes, you can. I mean, you’re probably still eating mold and it may or may not be “safe” but you can do it. You probably shouldn’t, however. When you see the mold on the surface, the mycelium have already spread much further. Best case scenario you still need to tear off much more than just the visible mold.
I believe this the only comment any person should upvote. It’s food and mold we’re talking about. Consuming the bio waste from mold is life-threatening. Just throw it away if you see any sign of mold.
It doesn’t spread much inside the cheese though.
There are no moulds that grow on cheese that are fatal. They just taste bad.
So in short, yes, cut it off and eat. If it tastes fine, it is.
Yeah, in this case quantity makes the poison (mycotoxins can be on so many foods, we don’t go lab-testing every bite), and all the people saying the mould root system is already soo deep are overly paranoid, those fungi started from the outside you are definitely cutting most of it just by using your eyes and cutting with a tiny safety margin.
Is there even a kind of cheese mold that you can’t taste? Like, bread is porous and will usually have mold all the way through, but you know the moment you start to eat that shit, even if you can’t see anything.
I think this is how The Last of Us begins.
The part you see isn’t mold, but the spores. Mold almost looks like spider webs and it is very hard to see without a microscope. If there is anything visible it means the actual mold had already grown much further and deeper. As others have said you can cut of the visible part plus an inch or so for hard cheese (and some vegetables or apples), but for other cheeses or food it is a no. Throw it all away. At that point it already spread throughout most of the food.
does it make you wanna vomit when you smell it?
otherwise cut off the offending bits and you’ll be fine.
the part you see anyways is just the fruiting, the fungi was there before it ever got to the store.
The softer the cheese the less ok it becomes.
Pretend it’s blue cheese and eat the whole thing Yolo
I prefer to pretend it’s purple
Have done it for years and have never gotten sick.
Why you letting your cheese get moldy that much
Cheese yes, bread no.
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Bread mold can cause serious illness, especially if you are subject to long-term exposure and inhaled spores from the mold.
The stalks of the mold may also be much deeper in the bread than the hotspots you might cut off.
The mold you see is just the surface of the mold. The mycelium has grown through the rest of the bread but it’s not as visible.
Adam Ragusea has a great video explaining this https://youtu.be/NgduUAu8s3g
Black bread mold hallucinations were pretty much the basis of a lot of religious epiphanies and witchcraft during the Middle Ages.
Tell me more about this black mold… Unless eating it means I might see God in person.
There’s probably a wiki article, but it’s a mold that grows on black bread, not black mold on white bread. I don’t know about it killing people but it was the Middle Ages, who’d notice another death?
Well, Ergot is certainly interesting: Speculated cause of hysterics and hallucinations - Wikipedia.
I don’t know if the illness thing is true, but bread is also porous. It’s probably spread throughout your bun or whatever already just by blowing around.
I do it mostly with parmesan because hard cheese.
Soft cheeses I woupd probably not do it but I don’t k ow shit about health and food and learned to hard cheese info from my mother.
If you want to avoid ingesting mold, you should throw the whole cheese away. When you see a spot of mold, it has already spread much further.
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eventually, yes
Technically correct is the best kind of correct.
bahahahaha. I just wanted to thank you for making me literally laugh out loud.
I’m glad I accomplished something today.
Thanks for telling me. Sometimes it feels like I’m typing into the void.
Then, every now and then, the void types back.
Most cheese molds, at least on harder cheeses, are pretty benign. Some are even left to mold intentionally. If you see some mold, you’re probably not going to be able to get rid of all of it - it goes deeper then deeper than you’d think. But it’s probably fine to eat as long as that doesn’t bother you (I do it all the time).
Yeah it’s definitely going to depend on each person’s ability to handle those things. I’m in a similar boat, I’ve eaten stuff that should have killed me, and yet I don’t even know the meaning of food poisoning and have absolutely cut the gray mold off cheese and then happily finished off the block. Other people get sick just looking at food the wrong way. “Is that mold on your cheese – hurk” No dude, it’s pepper-jack.
All true, though when I said “bother you,” I meant mentally. Hard cheese molds is generally pretty safe (I’m hedging because I don’t know if there are exceptions).
Heh we all know there’s always an exception. The question is whether that type can even grow in your part of the world, or even survive transfer through the air.
Definitely yes. Somewhere in the next hundred years.
Unlikely
I think we will, too.