If you love cheese then you are very likely to love all different varieties and a very popular type of cheese is blue cheese. Many people enjoy eating this type of cheese every day and it is ideal to eat on its own, in sauces, on pizzas, the uses are endless when it comes to cooking and serving cheese. Blue cheese is a unique cheese in the way that it is produced as it is typically aged in a cave to help with the maturing process.
Blue cheese is a cheese which has had Penicillium cultures added to give it the distinctive look of the blue veins. The blue veins are added by injecting the cheese with spores whilst the curds are forming and then they are left to age. The process of making the cheese can take several days and it is a very slow process if the spores are to be injected once the cheese is formed. The ripening in the caves can take over six months to achieve a perfect blue cheese. To avoid the cheese spoiling it has to be wrapped and the conditions in the cave monitored at all times.
Cave
It is believed that Blue cheese was in fact discovered by accident and that the cheeses were simply being stored in a cave. When the cheese was gathered from the caves the properties inside had made the cheese age and go blue. The caves would have been the perfect temperature and moisture levels to breed certain types of mould and this would have caused the veining effect. The same technique is still used today only it is now monitored and precise temperatures are used. It does create the same effect though and these cheeses are enjoyed all around the world.
Many chefs will use blue cheese in their cooking as it gives a distinctive flavor to the food you can quite happily eat it at room temperature on its own or in your cooking. These cheeses are strong with rustic, sour tastes and go very well with strong flavored foods and strong wine. These cheeses have a distinctive smell which some people love and other hate and is due to the bacteria which is growing inside the cheese. Many blue cheeses have to have a label stating their country of origin and can only bear the name if they were produced in that country.
Whether you love or hate blue cheese you have to agree it is art form to create a food from something so simple. The style of manufacturing has not changed over thousands of years and these great cheeses are still being produced in the countries they always have been. The recipes, methods and storage conditions are all the same and still amazing blue cheese is being produced. This only adds to the character of this amazing cheese that is produced, shipped and eaten all over the world. Although people have tried to adapt these cheeses the firm favorites are still there and people prefer these for their authentic taste and production methods.
Cave Aged Blue Cheese Cave
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