Blue Cheese

I have enjoyed eating blue cheese since I was a child. As an adult, I used to ask for samples of blue cheeses regularly, to make sure I was buying exactly what my taste buds wanted. I don't need to do that anymore. I know which blue cheeses I like.

When I was learning to eat again in my forties, blue cheese was one of the foods I could eat with minimal stress. I thought blue cheese had more protein than it does. That is okay, because when I eat blue cheese, I usually eat a large amount.

The blue is mold

Blue cheese starts the same way as most cheese, with milk, bacteria, and rennet. Then one more thing is added on purpose: a mold called Penicillium roqueforti.

The mold is added while the cheese is being made, so the mold ends up all through the inside of the cheese. The curds are drained, shaped, and salted, and then the cheese sits.

The piercing

After the cheese has sat for several days to several weeks, depending on the kind of blue cheese, a cheesemaker pushes long, thin metal needles all the way through the cheese, many times. This is done because mold needs air to grow, and there is very little air inside a block of cheese

Each needle leaves a channel behind, and air travels down those channels into the middle of the cheese. Over the next weeks, the mold grows along the air, and the blue spreads along the paths the needles made.

A cheesemaker decides how many times to pierce the cheese. More piercing lets in more air so more mold grows and the cheese becomes sharper and softer. Less piercing makes a milder blue cheese.

What the mold does

The mold releases enzymes, which are substances that cause a change to happen. These enzymes break the fat and protein in the cheese into smaller pieces.

Those smaller pieces are what make blue cheese sharp. The enzymes are also what make blue cheese soft and crumbly instead of firm. The flavor of blue cheese is not added to the cheese. The flavor is what the mold's enzymes made while the cheese aged.

The mold in blue cheese is chosen for cheese. Penicillium roqueforti is different from the molds that grow on food left too long.

An old food

People made blue cheese for a very long time before anyone knew what the mold was. Cheese would be stored in caves and cellars and mold would arrive on the cheese on its own from the air. People noticed which caves made the best cheese and kept using them.

Some of the oldest blue cheeses still made today are Roquefort from France, Gorgonzola from Italy, and Stilton from England. Roquefort is still aged in natural caves in the south of France. By law, cheese can only be called Roquefort if the cheese ages in those caves.

What blue cheese provides your body

Blue cheese provides your body protein, fat, and calcium. Blue cheese is also high in salt.

You are welcome to eat blue cheese.

Stacy 🌺

Information in this post comes from my learning and research.

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I share my experiences and my perspective. Eating and healing look different for everyone. If you are struggling with food or your relationship with your body, please find support. You don’t have to do this alone.