Blue cheese is a general term used to describe cheese made from pasteurized cow, sheep or goat milk and aged using Penicillium mold cultures.
The blue color in blue cheese is a mold called penicillium roqueforti. This is the mold species that gives blue cheese its iconic look and tangy flavor. The mold is named after a French cheese, roquefort, and it is used in the production of stilton and gorgonzola cheeses as well.
Blue cheese – sometimes called blue cheese (French spelling) – is a cheese made from cow’s, sheep’s or goat’s milk with the addition of Penicillium mold. Sweet to savory blue cheese is made from cow’s, goat’s and sheep’s milk, providing a wide range of flavor and texture combinations.
Like fine china, the light white marble backdrop with intersecting blue veins lends an iconic feel to these fine cheeses. Blue cheeses get their color, smell and taste from the veins of Penicillium mold.
How Blue Cheese Arises
The blue mold in these cheeses is caused by mold spores such as Penicillium roquefort or Penicillium. Today, this natural mold has been removed and used in almost all blue cheeses, just add the mold culture to the cheese milk.
These streaks form during the manufacturing phase when the cheese is added with stainless steel rods to circulate oxygen and promote mold growth. This so-called proteolysis makes cream cheese especially close to where the amino acids are most active: the gray and blue veins. This is called lipolysis and the cheese takes on a distinct blue hue, odd odor and strong aroma.
Bleu de Causses ~ This is a cream cheese made in the Roquefort region of France from cow’s milk. English Cheshire Blue ~ This cheese came about by accident when mold turned into the standard Cheshire cheese. This classic cheese is made from sheep’s milk. The mold is introduced either directly into the curd or through holes made in the rind during the ripening process.
Delicate blue-green marble makes this cheese family the most recognizable. Regardless of the version and flavor profile, blue cheese is characterized by green, blue, gray or black streaks or molds all over the body. As with all cheeses, the type and amount of sourdough, the temperature at which the curd is heated, the ripening methods, the type of milk, the flavor of animal milk, the amount of salt, and more, affect many varieties.
The type of milk used (cow, sheep or goat), what the animals ate before milking, and the slightly different cheese making techniques used by each cheese maker ensure that every blue cheese around the world has its own distinct flavor.
All Blue Cheeses Contain the Mold
From Gorgonzola to Stilton to Blue Winnie, the cheese style has a unique smell and rich taste, and is very popular among cheese lovers and cheese manufacturers all over the world. It is these blue stripes in the cheese and its unique strong salty taste that gets its name. These mold streaks and certain types of bacteria also give moldy cheese a special smell. As the cheese matures and ages, these blue molds will slowly decompose the protein in the cheese, making the blue cheese so creamy and smooth.
The shape and type of milk used is what gives these cheeses all the characteristic flavors and textures you like. Combined with the unique nutrients that mold grew on in the caves, it influenced the taste, texture and blue-green color of the mold in each of these cheeses.
The natural bluing of the past was facilitated by the fact that the cheeses of the time had a more open paste (air spaces, so mold can form), more moist sour curd (before the introduction of effective pressing and the use of starter bacteria), and less uniform crusts (so mold could penetrate).
Blue Cheese Is an Ancient Food
In ancient times, cheeses were aged for a long time to obtain a good blue discoloration. But that changed as science advanced (beginning in the 1940s) – the specific mold strains of Penicillium roqueforti that tasted best could have been selected, refined and grown by milk scientists for use in blue cheese production. In the past, many women on the farm produced Blue Vinny (Winnie is an old English word for mold), and they often got mold in the cheese through some disgusting methods like dirty horse harness and snail slime.
Certain types of gorgonzola are still aged in caves, which provide an ideal environment for mold growth, and are produced in flatter forms than traditional blue cheeses.
Gorgonzola also has a different aspect from Roquefort; its characteristic blue-greenish vein is created by deep insertion and removal of thin metal rods that create air channels through which the shape can move and branch. Cheeses are often made with an open texture (lots of air holes) so that the blue color spreads out. A good cheese maker may use slightly less salt if he can control blue mold by other means, such as slower ripening or less perforation; this helps to get a rounder taste.
Finally, cut the blue cheese to reduce the risk of cross-contamination. There are several types of fromages bleus (blue cheese) in France. Since the French invented the use of blue cheese in salad dressings, you may find it written as “blue cheese sauce” in restaurants…unless it is used exclusively for Locke Fu seasoning.
Blue Cheese Became Popular with Roquefort
Flamboyant and full of character, Roquefort popularized blue cheeses. The blue stilton, produced in England, is very similar to gorgonzola, but the more common form of Penicillium roqueforti is used as a mold. Unlike Roquefort, it is made from cow’s milk and the traditionally used mold is Penicillium glaucum.
During three to six months of maturation, mold grows both in small uneven and natural holes of the cheese and in perforations made by the machine.
To control the development of blue Penicillium roqueforti in continental-type cheeses that are first pierced, they are often wrapped in foil when the cheese turns blue enough to prevent additional oxygen from entering, and then brought to a lower temperature.
How the Blue Cheese Mold Is Regulated
However, unlike these types of mold, the Penicillium varieties used to make blue cheese do not produce toxins and are considered safe to consume (3Trusted). Unlike other types of mold, Penicillium does not emit toxins and is safe to consume.
When these safe varieties of penicillin come into contact with cheese (naturally or in a controlled manner), they significantly accelerate the process of producing the unique appearance, texture, and flavor that we associate with blue cheese. Penicillium chrysogenum can save lives. The two most common penicillium species in blue cheese are Penicillium roqueforti (named after the French city of Roquefort, which produces cheese with the same name) and Penicillium glaucum.
The secondary culture P. roqueforti is usually selected for its proteolytic and lipolytic activity, depending on the type of blue cheese, the target market and the desired shelf life. Y. lipolytica may be a potential supplement crop, but due to its strong enzyme activity, its inhibitory effect on P. roqueforti, and its ability to color cheese, it should be closely monitored (Nichol and Harden, 1993; Weichhold et al., 1988).
