Cheeses with noble mold, delicate, spicy, with a fancy network of blue “veins” and an aroma that delights true gourmets - a real delicacy!

And we often treat them with such reverence that we rarely use them in cooking. But in vain! They are very good in soups, sauces and salads. And they don’t require large quantities!

Blue cheeses are made from cow's, goat's, and sheep's milk. A. And they all have one thing in common - noble mold, which gives the product a specific appearance, taste and aroma. A specific strain of fungus is introduced either directly into the milk or into the cheese mass.

Gradually growing inside, the mold forms bizarre veins and spots, the color of which can vary from blue to bluish-gray or bluish-green.

It secretes enzymes that break down organic molecules into simpler ones, making the texture of the product soft and providing it with a salty, spicy taste, as well as a pungent, not pleasant aroma, which, however, can never be confused with the smell of something spoiled.

High-quality blue cheese has a bright mold color, and an aroma without the slightest hint of sour, musty notes.

Blue cheeses from around the world

Blue cheese - Roquefort

This is the most famous French blue cheese. Try adding Roquefort to simple, everyday dishes; it will make the taste of familiar green salads, pizza, and pasta reveal itself in a new way. Place the pieces on skewers, interspersing them with pieces of apples, apricots and mangoes. Mix the crumbled cheese with a little butter and make a sauce for the vegetable sticks. Roquefort is also very good in a duet with dry red wine.

Blue cheese - Stilton

Stilton is a famous English delicacy. The head of this cheese should be cylindrical in shape, and the blue veins should radiate from the center.

Be sure to try Stilton cheese combined with vegetables. It goes well with celery and adds a brighter, sharper taste to green salads and broccoli puree soup. In England, this cheese is traditionally served with vintage port wine and eaten during Christmas week, used in various national dishes.

Blue cheese - danablue

Danablu was created as an alternative to Roquefort cheese. Try adding danabla to a salad, serving it with fruit (strawberries, peaches) or, as they do in Denmark, with bread or cookies. It's delicious crumbled over greens and drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. You can substitute it for Roquefort in most recipes.

Blue cheese - Gorgonzola

Gorgonzola is one of the first blue cheeses, which began to be produced back in 879 in the suburbs of Milan.
Be sure to try using gorgonzola to make Italian dishes more piquant and rich in taste. Use this cheese in risotto (adding it at the end of cooking) and serve with polenta. Cook pasta with it (gorgonzola usually goes well with short pasta - rigatoni, penne) or crumble it on top of pizza: among others, it is included in the “Four Cheeses”.

Blue cheese - dor blue

Dorblue is an aristocrat from Germany. Try serving dorblu as a snack: cut into slices or cubes and place on crackers. It is good in salads and as part of a cheese plate, combined with nuts and sweet Riesling - this is how they like to eat it in Germany.

What to cook with blue cheese - for gourmets

• Simply cut it into large slices and serve with dessert wine. Honey, jam, and nut butter go well with it.
• Crumble the cheese and throw it into the salad: a good combination with fresh herbs and sweet fruits.
• Blue cheese makes excellent creamy sauces.
• Stuff fruits (such as pears) or vegetables with it.
• This is an excellent filling for lasagna (including eggplant).
• Blue cheese goes well with fried or grilled meats: crumble and sprinkle it over beef or lamb, or dissolve in the cooking juices of the meat, add herbs and enjoy a delicious sauce.
• Cheese is combined with vegetables, including raw ones. Blue cheese sauce goes great with carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower.
• Prepare a savory appetizer for your martini: stuff green olives or black olives with the cheese mixture.
• Buffalo chicken wings are served with melted blue cheese gravy.

This type of cheese appeared on the shelves of our stores relatively recently. However, blue cheese has already gained passionate fans and ardent critics. In this article we will talk about the benefits and possible negative effects of this product.

But before you join the gourmets and purchase a piece of the delicacy for tasting, you need to take a responsible approach to the issue and figure out what types of blue cheeses there are, what type to start getting acquainted with them with, what to use them with, and even. Otherwise, the product may not only cause antipathy, but also provoke health problems.

Let's try to answer these questions, and also understand the benefits and harms of this overseas delicacy.

Plate of blue cheeses

It’s possible that on even the largest plate there are all varieties of this cheese and won’t fit, so let’s go through the most famous varieties.

White mold. This is the smallest group, but it contains the famous Brie and Camembert. These varieties are covered with a characteristic white coating, which forms in special cellars, the walls of which are covered with fungi of the genus Penicillum.

Red mold. These varieties, including Livarot and Munster, are covered with red mold, which appears on the product during the ripening process, when it is treated with special bacteria.

Greenish-blue mold. Unlike the first two groups of blue cheeses, in this third the mold is contained within the product rather than covering its surface. This state of cheese is achieved through the use of a special cooking technology. Mold is added to the curd mass using special tubes, where it safely brings the cheese to the desired condition. The most famous cheese in this group - Roquefort. Experts say that this cheese can only be real if it has true French origin; any domestically produced analogue is a shameless fake at an incredible price.

How to use it correctly

The question is actually not an idle one, because if you start your acquaintance with the delicacy with the wrong variety, you can easily become disappointed in it. Gourmets recommend starting with Brie, and after getting used to its specific taste, start tasting “blue cheeses” without a strong taste. And last but not least, try Roquefort and Camembert.

You should treat these types of cheese with respect and not turn them into an everyday food product, especially if you don’t indulge your children with blue cheeses. Such cheeses are strictly prohibited for pregnant women. The product is truly specific and abuse of it can only cause harm. By the way, the amount of cheese that you can afford to eat at one time should not exceed 50 grams. A glass of rich-tasting wine and fruit go very well with this cheese.

But before you use it correctly, you need to choose it correctly. Of course, pay attention to the release date and expiration date of the product. When choosing cheese with white mold, smell it: the right cheese smells like penicillin, and may give you hospital associations (at the level of smell).

If you choose a noble blue cheese, consider it carefully. The section should show veins of mold, but the channels through which it was introduced should not be obvious. The cheese should be loose and soft, but not fall apart.

Storage

In order for cheese to retain its usefulness, it must be stored properly. Moreover, the refrigerator is not suitable for this. In the homeland of these cheeses, they even produce special cabinets for storing them. In our case, it is advisable to buy a small amount of cheese “at a time”; purchasing this product, as they say, for future use is not recommended. But if you still haven’t finished eating, then under no circumstances transfer blue cheese to plastic. Let it be stored in its “native” shell, and cover the cut with paper.

The benefits of blue cheese

Does it exist ? This is the question that causes a lot of discussion among beginners. Of course, such cheeses, like any other, are very healthy due to their high calcium content. Moreover, this important element is absorbed in the best possible way thanks to the presence of mold. Noble blue cheeses are rich in protein; even eggs and fish cannot compete with them in this regard.

In addition, these cheeses are rich in amino acids, which are necessary for the formation and strengthening of muscles. An important plus is that the delicacy is rich in vitamins and phosphorus salts. And recent studies have proven that regular consumption of blue cheese improves the formation of melanin, which protects the skin from exposure to sunlight.

What harm can it do?

If you adhere to the recommended norm - no more than 50 grams, then such cheese will definitely not harm a healthy person. But do not forget that mold, which is beneficial in small doses, can be harmful in large quantities, because it will be difficult for the stomach to process it. This means that if abused, even the healthiest person may experience problems associated with disruption of the normal intestinal microflora.

Those people who have chronic gastrointestinal diseases should exercise caution and better refuse the delicacy. It is worth knowing that the fungus contained in mold produces an antibiotic that destroys beneficial bacteria in the intestines. The result is, or at least intestinal upset.

As you can see, there are about as many arguments for blue cheese as there are against. Therefore, focus not only on the size of your wallet, but also on your state of health. “Gourmet” for health, but wisely!

What is blue cheese? These are special varieties of cheese that are produced with the addition of types of food mold that are safe for the body. As a rule, this is a mold from the genus Penicillium (It has a specific smell and taste, is used in the production of expensive varieties of cheese such as brie, camembert (French camembert) - a type of soft, fatty cheese made from cow's milk). The color of mold can be different: blue, light blue, greenish, white, etc. Mold can only cover the top of the cheese “head” or be inside the cheese mass in the form of spectacular veins. Most noble mold cheeses are made from cow's milk. An exception is the famous Roquefort cheese, which is made from sheep's milk.

Cheeses can be roughly classified into blue cheeses and soft cheeses. For the most part, these cheeses belong to the elite category.

Their ripening period is from 2 to 6 weeks. Shades of taste and aroma can be very diverse, depending on the method of preparation. There are several types of soft cheeses. Some go on sale immediately after production, others require short aging and, depending on this, they can be divided into two groups:

1) white cheeses- cheeses on the surface of which a thin white crust forms with a coating of mold, which is specially cultivated by spraying penicillin.

As a result, the cheeses acquire a piquant, unique taste and smell - slightly ammonia, mushroom or hot-pepper. The most popular cheese in this group is Camembert. It has a dense, oily consistency and a characteristic smell of damp earth, moss and mushrooms.

2) blue cheeses- cheeses that ripen from the inside, resulting in a bluish mold on the surface. The famous Roquefort belongs to this group. It is aged in deep cellars, and its taste depends on the length of maturation. The white or faint yellow dough, riddled with streaks of blue-green mold, gives the appearance of marbled coloring. Blue cheeses have a buttery or grainy consistency and have a tangy or salty-spicy flavor and mushroom aroma. They are made using a very simple but labor-intensive technology. Milk for cheeses is curdled at 30 degrees. The cheese mass is not pressed, but suspended in gauze, and the whey drains naturally. After two weeks, the cheese is salted and pierced with long needles containing mold fungi. Thus, blue veins spread throughout the entire volume of the cheese mass.

Soft cheeses can be divided into two more groups:

With washed edges;

With natural edges.

Edge-washed cheeses have a strong smell of hay, mushrooms, hazelnuts and mold, and their taste ranges from mild to very strong. As a result of regularly washing cheese wheels in brine, wine, beer or whey, ordinary mold does not appear (or appears, but then disappears), and therefore red mold bacteria develop. It stays on the edges so the crust turns a creamy orange or brown color. Cheese dough most often turns out yellow. Burgundy is considered the recognized birthplace of soft cheeses with washed rinds. Typical varieties of this group include Epoisse, Maroi, Aivaro, Munster, Remoudou. Cheeses with natural edges are made from sheep and goat milk. Due to special processing, they have slightly wrinkled edges. Over time, the wrinkles increase and a bluish-gray mold appears. Young cheese has a fresh, fruity taste, but over time it becomes very sharp, with a nutty flavor. Among these cheeses, the most famous are Chabichoux du Poiteau, Sainte-Maur and Crottin de Chavignolles.

Ardi-Gasna

The cheese is made from sheep's milk. The taste depends on the quality of the milk, the condition of the pastures, climate and other factors affecting its ripening. Ardi-Gasna is made high in the Alps, in the hiyasins of shepherds, where it matures in cool cellars for 3 to 6 months. The outside of the cheese is smooth, cast in various shades, from brown to yellow-gray. Its natural edges are crusty, sometimes with a slight gray coating of mold. Inside, its color ranges from light yellow to straw yellow. Has a few eyes. Firm to the touch, but pressed under your fingers. The taste is nutty, fresh, and with good ripening it acquires a pleasant piquancy. Circles of this cheese weigh 3 - 5 kg, their diameter is 20-30 cm.

Bleu d'Auvergne

This French blue cheese, marked with a special quality mark, is an analogue of Roquefort. Bleu d'Auvergne cheese has been produced since the 19th century in the Santal Mountains from cow's milk from special breeds of cows typical of that area. The cheese matures for three months in a damp cellar. Like any other blue mold cheese, it is riddled with blue-green veins of mold. The cheese mass of Bleu d'Auvergne is moist, sticky and slightly loose, but should not be crumbly. The cheese has a strong pungent aroma and a spicy, not too salty taste.

d" Auvergne

The cheese is made from cow's milk. Ripens in a damp cellar for 3 months. The cheese is covered with blue mold, and its circles are riddled with bluish-gray veins. It has a strong aroma and a spicy, not too salty taste. The cheese dough is moist, sticky and slightly crumbly, but in no way grainy. The weight of the cylinder is 2 - 3 kg, diameter - 10-20 cm. The cheese is marked with the AOC quality mark.

Bleu du Haut-Jura

The cheese is made from cow's milk. It is also found commercially under the name Bleu de Setmoncel or Bleu de Ges. During the manufacturing process, the cheese is filled with blue mold, which gives it its blue color. Ripens for 2 months. Bleu de Ges is best eaten in summer and autumn, and Bleu de Setmoncels is best eaten in autumn and winter. A good cheese has an impeccable crust and has an unclear, slightly bitter taste with a slight hint of mushrooms. The weight of the circle is up to 75 kg, diameter is 36 cm. The cheese is marked with the AOC quality mark.

The cheese is made from cow's milk. Soft Brie cheese has been known in France for several centuries. For the production of this cheese, exclusively fresh (not pasteurized) milk is used. The milk is fermented with rennet, and after two hours the curd is placed into molds.

The cheese remains unloaded for 24 hours. It is then removed from the molds and salt is sprinkled on its surface. Brie matures within 2-4 weeks and develops a characteristic red color on its surface due to the growth of pigment-forming bacteria. Ripening occurs due to the activity of mold enzymes penetrating inside. The consistency of mature cheese can vary from waxy to semi-liquid. The cheese has a pungent taste and ammonia smell. The weight of the circle is 1.2 kg, diameter is 37 cm.

Camembert(Camembert de Normandie)

The cheese is made from cow's milk. This is one of the most famous soft cheeses. Camembert can be difficult to produce in hot weather, so it is usually made between September and May. Under favorable conditions, mold growth occurs rapidly, and very soon the surface of the white mold turns blue, so that the cheese has a bluish-gray appearance. The cheese is then transferred to another basement room with a temperature of approximately 10 ° C and high humidity. Under these conditions, mold growth slows down significantly, and the mold itself takes on a reddish-brown color. The cheese now becomes viscous and is considered ripe.

It should be soft to the touch, but not crumble when cut. A hard center surrounded by a semi-liquid mass near the rinds indicates that the cheese is poorly prepared. A good Camembert should be covered with a velvety white crust, and the “wrinkles” should have a slight pink-red tint. The smell is fresh, perhaps with a mushroom note. The taste is delicate, and in no case should it taste like ammonia. The product is transported in light wooden boxes or packed in straw, six cheeses at a time. They try to sell Camembert as quickly as possible, since it is poorly stored. Because of this, it is often sold unripe. In this case, it can be left to ripen at home. Before use, Camembert is placed in a cool place, but not in the refrigerator. Cut cheese no longer ripens, so it is better to eat it as quickly as possible. Disc weight - 35-45 kg. Marked with the AOC quality mark.

Roquefort

The cheese is made from sheep's milk. It is perhaps the most famous of all blue cheeses. There are a great many imitations of this cheese, the names of which speak for themselves. For example, the Danish Roquefort, which is made from cow's milk. Traditionally, rye bread is used to form mold. In addition, the cheeses are pierced with long needles and sprinkled with dried rye mold. Then Roquefort mold settles in the air channels, which subsequently forms blue-gray streaks. Real Roquefort matures for at least 3 months in limestone caves. In the early stages of ripening, sheep's milk cheese has a strong taste that not everyone likes. However, this flavor either disappears or softens during the subsequent ripening process. The cheese also leaves a peculiar aftertaste. The most successful seasons for making it are winter, spring and early summer. Cylinder weight - 2.5-2.9 kg. The cheese is marked with the AOC quality mark.

And here is A. Dumas’ description of Roquefort cheese. This is a cheese that is produced in the town of Roquefort-en-Rouergue, in Aveyron. It is made from a mixture of goat and sheep milk, which is heated, curdled and placed in a mold. After this, each such small mass is surrounded with a strap so that the cheese mass does not spread. Cheeses are dried in basements, where there must be a very strong draft. They are then salted by covering them with a layer of salt and several cheeses are placed on top of each other after they have been salted for three to four days. The cheeses are left to ripen, carefully peeled and washed each time a more or less colored layer appears on the surface. When this colored layer turns red and white, the cheeses are ready to eat. This usually happens after three to four months of the cheese being in the cellar. We recommend Roquefort cheese, which is rightfully considered one of our best cheeses.

Saint-Marcellin

The cheese is made from cow's milk. Ripens in 4-6 weeks. At the end of ripening, its orange rind becomes covered with a slight coating of mold, and the taste becomes slightly nutty and salty. Over time, the cheese dries, acquiring a spicy aroma, but its pulp should not crumble. Disc weight - 80 g.

Gorgonzola

Only two regions of Italy historically associated with the production of Gorgonzola can legally produce cheese and only in the following provinces: Novara, Vercelli, Cuneo, Biella, Verbania and the Monferrato territories in Piedmont and Bergamo, Brescia, Como, Cremona, Lecco, Lodi, Milan, Monza, Pavia and Varese in Lombardy. The milk used in the production of Gorgonzola comes from cows grazing on pastures only in these provinces. Only such cheese can receive DOP status - Protected Designation of Origin.

Gorgonzola is a white cow's milk cheese with green streaks of mold. It is soft, with a creamy, slightly sweet taste. Before use, remove gorgonzola from the refrigerator for about half an hour. During this time, it takes on the correct consistency and taste. Gorgonzola is aged for 2 months for the sweet type and 3 months for the savory type. To enable consumers to identify genuine cheese, the Consortium provides manufacturers with foil with the letter “g” printed on it. Such foil may only be held by companies authorized by the consortium.

Danablu

Danish cheese made from cow's milk. Its creation was inspired by Danish cheese makers from Roquefort. This cheese is also called Mormora. Pasty, matures for 2-3 months and is more suitable for everyday use.

Danablu(Danish Danablu) is a type of blue cheese made in Denmark. International name - Danish Blue. Similar to Roquefort, but made from cow's milk.

Wine and cheese are classics of intelligent libations. There are several general rules when serving cheese with wine. It is advisable that the cheese and wine be made in the same country. It is important to remember that the brighter the taste of the cheese, the stronger and more mature the wine should be. Before serving the cheese to the table, you need to keep it on the table at room temperature for some time, only after that the entire flavor palette of the cheese will be revealed.

Camembert and Roquefort are good served as an appetizer before lunch and dinner. Soft round cheeses are usually cut in half, and blue cheeses are cut into cubes. The taste of Camembert is perfectly complemented by young red wines. And the unique taste of Roquefort is emphasized by dry red vintage wine drinks. These types of cheeses are especially popular in France. The success of French soft cheeses is attributed to the mild climate. The production of these cheeses is especially successful on small farms located near large cities or resorts.

And a few words about the cheese plate

A cheese plate is a dish for aesthetes. For it to be “correct” it must contain at least five types of cheese. A cheese plate can be served as a main course or as a dessert. In the first case, the pieces of cheese are larger, and each participant in the meal is entitled to a device. In the second case, the cheese is complemented with fruit and can be served on skewers. Pears go well with Brie and Camembert, grapes go well with Roquefort, cherries and pineapple complement Cheddar and Beaufort, and various nuts go well with all cheeses. Delicate cheeses absorb odors well. So it is important not to combine too aromatic cheeses with each other. As a rule, the freshest cheese is left for six hours. Further clockwise, according to increasing spice. Cheese is eaten in the same order.

Benefits and harms

Blue cheeses are healthy in small quantities. They contain a lot of calcium, an extensive complex of vitamins of both water- and fat-soluble groups, and phosphorus salts. Blue cheese is also a good source of protein, which is rich in essential amino acids. But there is also some danger!

As described above, fungi of the genus penicillium are used to produce blue cheese. Not all fungi of this genus secrete a large amount of antibiotics, but trace amounts of substances that destroy the cell wall of bacteria are contained in all fungi of this genus (fungi need antibiotics in order to suppress the growth of bacteria nearby and fully utilize nutrient substrates).

When blue cheeses are consumed in moderation, small doses of antibiotics in them are completely harmless. But, if you eat blue cheeses every day, antibiotics may well cause a disruption in the composition of the intestinal microflora, especially after gastrointestinal infections and antibiotic therapy.

In addition, fungi that are found in blue cheeses are quite a strong allergen. Therefore, excessive consumption of blue cheeses can lead to allergic rashes and hives. For this number of reasons, doctors do not recommend cheese to pregnant women and nursing mothers. Due to the fact that cheeses are high in calories, nutritionists advise consuming no more than 50 g of blue cheeses per day.

The benefits of blue cheese, can blue cheese be harmful?

It is believed that cheese appeared in the human diet almost simultaneously with bread, or even earlier.

Today about benefits of cheese and its high nutritional value is known to everyone. It contains a lot of protein, and this protein is very easily absorbed by our body, vitamins and minerals, especially calcium. There is as much calcium in cheese as there is in no other product: neither in vegetables and fruits, nor in eggs and legumes, nor in cereals, nor even in other dairy products. To get the daily requirement of calcium, it is enough to eat 100 grams of good cheese - however, you need to be able to understand the quality of cheese.

There are currently about 2,000 varieties of cheese, and of course new ones are emerging. We will briefly talk about one of the most exotic types of cheese for the residents of our country - blue cheese.

That blue cheese is a delicacy, everyone has also heard, but not all of our compatriots have tried this type of cheese. The reasons may be different: fears, rejection, lack of information, inability to use such cheese correctly, and simply lack of money - after all, elite varieties of blue cheese are quite expensive. However, you can choose - you just need to know how to do it correctly.

First of all, people are put off by the smell of such cheese - it smells so bad that it seems already spoiled. And the taste is unusual, not like our usual Russian or other cheeses: processed, hard, soft, pickled, etc. True cheese connoisseurs understand that blue cheese is truly a delicacy, and they know that they should eat it rarely and little by little. This cheese should not be consumed as an everyday food product, as it can cause certain health problems.

It can be hard or soft, but is made mainly from the fattest cow's milk. True, some varieties of such cheese are made from goat and sheep milk - these include one of the most famous - Roquefort, as well as some cheeses from Eastern European countries.

There are several types of blue cheese, but the differences between them are not very significant. The first type includes cheeses with a white mold rind. The most famous of them are “Camembert” and “Brie”, which we have also heard a lot about.

To produce these cheeses, milk is curdled and then salted. This cheese ripens in basements where molds of the penicillin family live - all the walls there are covered with them, and they are called “noble mold”. Mature cheese has such fluffy mold that the entire crust is covered.

The next type is blue mold cheeses, or rather, cheeses with blue mold - also noble. On the cut of such cheese we see many greenish-blue inclusions, and the most famous varieties are Roquefort, Fourme d'Ambert, Gorgonzola, Bleu de Causse.

Curdled milk is placed in a special form; When the whey has drained, the cheese is rubbed with salt and a specific strain of fungus is introduced. To do this, special metal needles are inserted into the resulting cheese mass, which help mold to spread better, and the cheese is placed in a well-ventilated room for ripening. Probably, many people paid attention to the unusual stains and veins that are clearly visible on the cut of this type of cheese.

There are other types mold cheeses- with washed crust. They are also called red mold or spicy. During the ripening process, this type of cheese is washed with a special brine to prevent the formation of ordinary mold. Then the cheese is treated with special fungal cultures, thanks to which the cheese crust turns red, burgundy, orange or yellow. The type of cheese is distinguished by the color of the rinds.

All types and varieties mold cheeses They are united by the technology of their production: they are processed with strains of various penicillin fungi.

Is blue cheese healthy?

Is blue cheese healthy? for good health? It is useful if eaten in small quantities and not too often. It contains a lot of calcium and phosphorus, various vitamins, as well as protein containing the amino acids we need.

Many nutritionists believe that such cheese also contains beneficial bacteria that help the functioning of the intestines, and Turkish scientists have discovered another beneficial property of mold cheeses: noble mold contains special substances that can protect our skin from sunlight. When these substances accumulate in the subcutaneous layer, we produce more melanin, and the risk of sunburn is significantly reduced.

How to eat blue cheese correctly? It has a sharp, pronounced taste, so it is recommended to serve it with strong drinks, such as tannic wines. However, some connoisseurs and connoisseurs of cheese argue that it is generally incompatible with wine, with the exception of some white wines.

Serve when warmed to room temperature, with vegetables, fruits, crackers and crispbread. The British eat this cheese with herbs and add it to soup, the Italians add it to pizza and sauces, and the Danes simply eat it with bread. Salads can also be prepared with the addition of mold cheeses, with the exception of Roquefort - it is better not to mix it with anything, but to eat it separately.

Can blue cheeses be harmful?

The fact is that the penicillin fungi used to produce this type of cheese produce antibiotics that suppress the growth of unwanted bacteria. That is why at one time they learned to make penicillin from them.

If you eat blue cheeses rarely and little by little, then there is no danger to health, but their frequent consumption can negatively affect the intestinal microflora, and even cause dysbiosis, especially after diseases associated with intestinal infections.

In addition, fungi contained in cheeses can cause allergies if consumed frequently. The fat content in these types of cheese is also quite high, so we get quite a lot of calories from it. A healthy person can consume no more than 50 grams of cheese per day, but less is still better.

It is strictly forbidden to be consumed by pregnant women, as mold fungi can have a bad effect on the fetus and even cause its death. Young children are also not given blue cheese to prevent the development of listeriosis, a dangerous disease that affects the liver, lymph nodes and nervous system.

How to choose the right blue cheese?

How to choose and buy blue cheese correctly? In blue cheese, the channels through which mold entered it should not be too noticeable, and in general, there should not be too many cavities filled with blue mold in the cheese.

The cheese should be slightly crumbly, moist and tender, and should not crumble.

You should not immediately buy Roquefort or Camembert - they have too unusual taste and smell. You can buy soft cream cheese, or Brie, and try it with pears or grapes. If you really want to start with “blue” cheeses, then you can first buy cream cheese, which is quite compatible with sweet tea and coffee.

When choosing soft cheese with a white mold rind, pay attention to the smell. Good cheese has a slight “penicillin” smell. The rind of the cheese should be light, usually white, with slightly visible marks from the grill on which it was aged. Read the ingredients carefully: it should contain milk, enzymes that allow the cheese to ripen, salt and penicillin. Preservatives and dyes are not added to real cheese.

The cheese tastes like fresh butter, with a slight sourness or bitterness, and melts in your mouth. A dry layer along the crust may indicate that the cheese has been stored for a long time. There should be very few holes in the cheese, otherwise it is considered not of very high quality.

How to store blue cheese?

And finally, how to store cheese. The air temperature should be no lower than 0 and no higher than 5°C, and humidity – 90%. It is better to store cheese not in the refrigerator, but in a special cabinet, if possible. There should be a constant flow of fresh air and no light should fall on the cheese.

It is best to store blue cheese in the shell in which it was purchased, and always cover the cut, otherwise the fungus will begin to grow. In general, soft cheese should not be stored in plastic wrap or a bag: wrap it in wax paper.

Cheese is one of the most valuable products in our diet, helping us live, grow and develop. Good cheese contains many elements that we need in life, and it is also very tasty. So let your favorite varieties of cheese always be on your table!

Gataulina Galina
for women's magazine InFlora.ru

Blue cheeses. Selection, storage, benefits and harms of such products

Blue cheeses appeared on our table quite recently. Although in Europe, products of this type have long been popular among gourmets. The debate about the benefits and harms of blue cheeses still continues. In this article we will try to shed light on such an exotic product for our country as blue cheese.

Types of blue cheese. Before you can figure out whether blue cheese is good or bad, you need to classify this type of cheese. The fact is that there are several options for such products. They have different tastes and contain different types of mold.

The first type of blue cheese is a cheese whose crust is covered with a white coating. This is the smallest group of blue cheeses, but it includes the well-known Camembert and Brie in our country. The white mold that covers these cheeses is formed by placing traditionally prepared cheese in special cellars, the walls of which are covered with fungi belonging to the genus Penicillum.

Another type of blue cheese is cheese that contains greenish-blue mold inside. Famous representatives of this group include Roquefort and Fourme d'Ambert.

The technology for producing blue cheese from this group is somewhat different from cheeses covered with white mold. In order for mold to develop inside the cheese, it is added to the curd mass using special tubes. If you cut such cheese, you will see characteristic traces of the pipes through which mold entered the product.

There is another variety of such a product - this group is similar to the first variety, but only they develop not white mold, but red mold. Before the stage of processing such a product with bacteria, this type of cheese can be made at home. Cheese that is in the process of ripening is treated with cultures, which give the mold its red color. This category of cheeses includes Munster and Livaro.

Are blue cheeses healthy or harmful? It is impossible to categorically answer whether blue cheeses are beneficial or harmful. But we can definitely say that blue cheeses are not harmful in an amount of 50 grams. per person per day. This figure was derived by nutritionists, since consuming blue cheese in large quantities has a negative impact on the calories consumed. If you are not prone to gaining excess weight, then the dose of blue cheese consumption can be increased. But not by much.

Don't forget about mold. In small doses it is harmless, but the more mold enters the body, the more difficult it is for the stomach to process it, and hence problems associated with the intestinal microflora arise. This happens because the fungus that is part of the mold produces antibiotics. Thanks to this property, penicillin was invented. These antibiotics are needed to suppress the development of other bacteria in cheese; they can also kill the bacteria in our intestines, which can cause dysbiosis.

Blue cheese is especially dangerous for children, people with allergies and pregnant women. People who have had gastrointestinal infections should also avoid eating blue cheese.

But what are the benefits of blue cheese? It certainly is. These cheeses contain a lot of calcium. Moreover, calcium, thanks to “noble” mold, is better absorbed by the body. This product contains the phosphorus salt needed by our body, many types of vitamins, some of which have the ability to dissolve fats. Protein from blue cheeses is enriched with amino acids, which play the role of muscle builders in our body.

More recently, another positive function of blue cheese was discovered. It turns out that when this product is consumed, microelements are deposited under the human skin, which form melanin, which in turn protects the skin from the harmful effects of sunlight. This discovery was made by Turkish scientists by analyzing mold from several types of cheese.

How to select and store blue cheese. The culture of eating blue cheese in our country has not yet developed, and therefore the quality of this type of cheese sold leaves much to be desired. Of course, you need to check the expiration date and release date of the product. If the numbers suit you, look at the cheese. If it is “blue cheese”, then the channels through which the mold was introduced should not be noticeable. High-quality cheese feels slightly soft and crumbly to the touch. But this does not mean that it should fall apart in your hands.

If you decide to buy cheese with white mold, then smell it. The normal smell is the “hospital” smell of penicillin. A good blue cheese contains only milk, salt, fungus and enzymes. The remaining ingredients that can be found in ordinary cheeses are absent in expensive noble cheeses.

How to store blue cheese. Proper storage of blue cheese is the key to its benefits. You need to buy blue cheese in small quantities, for one or two servings. In the homeland of blue cheese in France, special cabinets are produced for them. The refrigerator is not suitable for this. If you still have to store the cheese for a long time, then it is better to leave it in the casing in which it was sold. The cut is covered with paper. Polyethylene is highly undesirable for packaging such cheese.

Blue cheeses are a relatively new product. In order to get to know him correctly, you need to follow all the recommendations that we wrote about in this article.

The noble moldy cheese still frightens buyers not only with its price, but also with its appearance. Yes, this delicacy does not smell as pleasant as its hard counterpart, but the taste of the delicacy is divine. See for yourself, but first find out what the benefits of the product are for the body and what types of cheese there are.

Blue cheeses - types

In Russia, cheese with a noble fungal coating is practically not produced, but in Italy and France they have been doing this for several centuries. Meticulous statistics claim that there are more than 500 varieties of delicious delicacies, but among this huge family there are specialtypes of blue cheeses:

• red crust: Munster-Jerome, Limburg, Epoisse;
• bluish-green mold: Dor Blue, Gorgonzola, Roquefort;
• white or black coating: Brie, Camembert, goat Valence.

With white mold

It’s easy to recognize it from the thousands of types on the counter – white fluffy mold is applied on top of the cheese. This variety is eaten together with the crust; it gives the product an exquisite piquant taste and buttery consistency. They smellwhite mold cheeses, as a rule, earth, moss, withered grass, mushrooms - the same smell of the coming autumn. Among the few varieties, the most popular cheeses are Normandy Camembert, Brie, and Boulet-daven - one of the most fragrant French cheeses.

With blue mold

In this type of cheese, the mold is not located on the surface of the head, but inside. Its taste largely depends on the milk used, the degree of ripening and preparation technology. There are three leaders, the most famous around the world - Roquefort, Stilton and Gorgonzola.Blue cheeseThese brands have a salty, spicy and pungent aftertaste, and smell like a mixture of thousands of aromas, the brightest of which are moss, oil or mold.

With red mold

Another type of elite delicacy is with red, orange or burgundy mold. Amazing shadered mold cheesesobtained through a special washing technology during product ripening:

• Camembert is immersed in cider, which makes the taste of this product too sharp.
• The German Limburger is tied with reeds and watered with water tinted with annatto dye.
• Epoisse is washed with Burgundy vodka made from red grapes.

Compound

Having tasted just 100 grams of elite cheese, you will get approximately 340 kcal and a lot of fat. Proteins, which are more abundant in cheese than in fish or meat, give a feeling of fullness. INcompoundincludes calcium, phosphorus, zinc and other trace elements. In addition, the delicacy will supply the body with a whole group of vitamins:

• Vitamin B - necessary for good functioning of the nervous system.
• Vitamin A – responsible for visual acuity.
• Vitamin D – makes bones, teeth and nails strong.

Benefits and harms

They love the moldy product not only for its pungent taste, unusual appearance and smell, but also for a lot of useful qualities.What are the benefits of blue cheese?, we can briefly say this:

• It helps restore the acid-base balance in the mouth and eliminate bad odor.
• Phosphorus salts will remove toxins from the body and protect the skin from negative UV radiation.
• Another benefit of the delicacy is the prevention of premature wrinkles, due to the active production of collagen, and solving the problems of oily facial skin.
• Doctors recommend consuming 50 g of cheese delicacy per day for those who suffer from intestinal disorders.

Cheese will be harmful for pregnant women, due to the high risk of developing listeriosis. For the same reasons, you should not feed it to small children. Another contraindication is chronic gastrointestinal diseases: pancreatitis, peptic ulcer and enterocolitis. High fat content and high protein content will cause harm, not benefit, to patients with endocrine system disorders and obesity.

How to make blue cheese

The easiest varieties to prepare are Livarot, Brie Noir and Munster. So,how to make blue cheesered color by washing or soaking the curd mass in various brines, including alcohol. The quality and taste of the finished product depends on the degree of ripening of the cheese. At first, their taste is soft and creamy, after a week of storage it becomes pungent, and when it sits for a while it tastes spicy.

The most interesting thing is the production of blue cheese. On a small scale, this delicacy is matured in fleurin caves, where the air temperature is within 9 degrees all year round and the humidity is 95%. A draft helps mold to grow, which transfers spores from the walls of the cave to the food. On a large scale, bacteria are introduced into the head of the ripening delicacy using special tubes, but this does not in any way affect the quality of the product.

Cheese mold

All noble mold on cheese- this is, in fact, the same penicillin in its pure form. Moreover, each variety of delicacy has its own type of fungus: in Roquefort it is Penicillium roqueforti, and in Morbier cheese Penicillium glaucum settles. A pure bacterial culture is grown in special laboratories and only in the province of Rouergue in France can natural strains of the fungus be found.

How to store

Soft moldy ones cannot be kept at home for a long time, so you should not buy this product for future use. To prevent the piece from quickly becoming moldy, ask the seller to first place the cheese on a tray and then wrap it in paper. If there is a place in the house with good ventilation, dark and cool, then it is better to put a piece of treat there.Storing blue cheesein the refrigerator is not the best option. It contains a lot of foreign odors and little oxygen.

How to eat properly

In cooking, there are a lot of recipes for dishes with an elite delicacy. However, you should not deny yourself the pleasure of enjoying the pure, refined taste of the delicacy without additives. You can serve fruit with soft mold: apples, figs, mangoes, pears. It’s good if there are walnuts or almonds on the cheese plate. Delicacies with a blue coating will taste better if you sprinkle a little honey on them.

What do you eat blue cheese with?other than fruits and nuts? They are also served with different wines. At the same time, for each variety, it is worth choosing a special brand of alcoholic drink. The sharp taste of Roquefort or Bleu de Cos will be emphasized by the addition of tart and sweet drinks - Sauternes or port. Brie, Camembert and other soft varieties pair perfectly with Chardonnay and sparkling champagne.

Recipes with blue cheese

The overseas delicacy is included in many delicious recipes: it is used to make excellent sauces, light salads, polenta and Italian risotto. In fashionable restaurants you can try cream of mushroom soup or enjoy green beans in creamy cheese sauce. Manyblue cheese dishescan easily be prepared even in your own kitchen.

Salad

• Number of servings: 5 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 225 kcal.
• Purpose: snack.
• Cuisine: European.

The homemade recipe for this salad originated in America, where it was nicknamed Cobb salad. In the classic recipe, the dish includes: low-fat bacon, chicken fillet, moldy cheese, avocado and cherry tomatoes. The special piquant taste of the delicacy is emphasized by a light dressing of olive oil. If desired, you can add a little Dijon mustard, olives and any herbs to the sauce.

Ingredients:

• cherry tomatoes – 15 pcs.;
• blue cheese – 150 g;
• chicken fillet – 1 pc.;
• bacon – 150 g;
• avocado – 1 pc.;
• quail eggs – 4 pcs.;
• lettuce leaves – 6 pcs.

Cooking method:

1. Fry the bacon, then sauté the chicken in the same oil.
2. Cut eggs, avocado and tomatoes into slices.
3. Place lettuce leaves around the plate, then eggs, cheese, bacon, chicken, avocado, tomatoes.
4. Refuel blue cheese saladolive oil.

Sauce

• Cooking time: 15 minutes.
• Calorie content of the dish: 390 kcal.
• Purpose: for lunch.
• Cuisine: European.
• Difficulty of preparation: easy.

Sauces based on noble fermented milk products are perfect with fish or lean meat. The advantage of this dressing lies in the ease of preparation. All you need to do is heat the cream a little and then dissolve the pieces of cheese treat into it. The thickness of the sauce is determined by the amount of cheese added and does not require additional thickening ingredients - starch, eggs or sour cream.

Ingredients:

• roqueforti – 100 g;
• cream – 200 ml;
• black pepper - to taste.

Cooking method:

1. Cook the cream over low heat until thickened.
2. Add the cheese pieces, stir until completely dissolved.
3. Season blue cheese sauce with creamground pepper to taste.

Salad with pear

• Cooking time: 30 minutes.
• Number of servings: 1 person.
• Calorie content of the dish: 156.3 kcal.
• Purpose: snack.
• Cuisine: European.
• Difficulty of preparation: easy.

This salad is prepared in several steps. First, pieces of pear are caramelized in a frying pan in a special way, then all the ingredients are simply mixed. There is no need to season the appetizer, but you can use olive oil if desired. For more satiety, you can add boiled chicken to the salad. It will go well with sweet pear.

Ingredients:

• pear – 1 pc.;
• Roqueforti – 25 g;
• walnuts – 1 handful;
• sugar – 1 tbsp. l.;
• sesame seed – ½ tsp;
• balsamic vinegar -2 tbsp. l.;
• butter – 1 tbsp. l.

Cooking method:

1. Break the nut kernels and lightly fry.
2. Melt sugar, vinegar, butter in a frying pan. Caramelize the pear pieces into the mixture.
3. Blue cheese and pearPlace on a plate and sprinkle with nuts and sesame seeds.

Canapes

• Cooking time: 20 minutes.
• Number of servings: 4 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 387 kcal.
• Purpose: snack.
• Cuisine: European.
• Difficulty of preparation: easy.

Recipes for canapés with blue cheesewill be especially appropriate for a light buffet or a buffet-style banquet. You can thread any non-acidic fruit onto skewers: grapes, apples or pears. Or make hearty sandwiches on skewers from pork and several types of cabbage. Find out how to bring this idea to life from the following recipe with photos.

Ingredients:

• pork – 100 g;
• broccoli – 50 g;
• cauliflower – 50 g;
• Roqueforti – 100 g.

Cooking method:

1. Cut fresh meat into pieces and fry.
2. Blanch the cabbage in boiling water and divide into inflorescences.
3. Thread food onto skewers.
4. Finish with a square of soft blue cheese.
5. The shelf life of skewers is no more than 24 hours.

Video: how to make Camembert at home

True gourmets consider blue cheese to be a delicacy. This is not only tasty, but also an incredibly healthy product if you consume it in reasonable quantities without overusing it. And be sure to follow the rules for storing cheeses at home so that the delicious product does not negatively affect your health.

Benefit

Do not try to make blue cheese yourself from any available “Russian” cheese. A stale product will not do you any good. To create gourmet cheeses, a special cheese mold is used, the spores of which are added to the product during its preparation. This mold differs both in appearance and in its special properties from that which is cultivated on products that have not been touched for a long time.

Beneficial properties of gourmet blue cheeses:

• increasing the ability to absorb calcium due to the inhibitory ability of mold;
• reducing the negative effects of ultraviolet radiation;
• supplying the body with proteins;
• creating a favorable environment within the gastrointestinal system for the development of beneficial bacteria;
• prevention of dysbacteriosis;
• thinning the blood and improving its flow;
• acceleration of the natural regeneration process for external and internal wounds;
• improvement of general hormonal levels due to saturation of the body (and especially the adrenal glands) with vitamin B5;
• lifting mood, reducing fatigue, preventing the development of depression;
• preventing sleep problems caused by fatigue.

Moldy cheese has the ability to supply the body with a huge amount of vitamins and microelements that it needs.

Harm

But the body can be harmed if the product is consumed excessively. The maximum recommended amount of product per adult per day is 50 grams, regardless of the variety. If abused, there may be negative consequences from use, including:

• suppression of the body’s own intestinal microflora and, as a consequence, dysbacteriosis;
• possible allergic reaction to penicillin;
• infectious listeriosis, which can pass without obvious symptoms, but has a negative impact and is clearly manifested in pregnant women.

You should not risk your health and, by overeating cheese, wait for intestinal problems to occur, an allergic reaction to appear, and a pregnant woman to have a miscarriage due to problems with the immune system.

Contraindications

Contraindications to the use of blue cheeses include:

• allergy to penicillin;
• pregnancy in women;
• diseases and disorders of the intestines, gastrointestinal tract;
• children's age up to approximately 7 years;
• presence of liver diseases.

In case of intestinal diseases, you can find out whether you will be able to enjoy the delicious product in the future, when the microflora is restored and the exacerbation subsides (if any). If you are pregnant or have allergies, you should avoid the product completely.

Types of blue cheeses

There are two main types of product: white cheese and blue cheese. The white one grows along the top, and the blue one ends up inside. The types are already distinguished into individual varieties. Varieties with blue mold include:

• Dor Blue.
• Roquefort.
• Stilton.
• Gorgonzola.

Dor Blue (also Dorblu) came to us from Germany. This is often the name given to any type of blue cheese, which is a mistake. This variety is crumbly, but at the same time quite dense. Richest in calcium and vitamin PP.

Roquefort is made exclusively from sheep's milk. Connoisseurs believe that only cheeses produced in the province of Rouergue, which is located in France, can be called this way. But in fact, the whole variety is called Roquefort, regardless of where it was prepared. It is the most common among moldy cheeses.

Stilton is made from cow's milk; the variety came to us from England. The texture is semi-soft and crumbles. In England, Stilton is usually consumed during the Christmas holidays.

Gorgonzola comes from Italy and is characterized by a slight tangy flavor. It is soft, ripens quite quickly (but should also be eaten quickly), and is a frequent guest in Italian culinary recipes.

White spores are planted in varieties:

• Camembert.

Brie comes from France and is considered one of the most famous and valued throughout the world. The consistency is soft, the color is pale. Fresh tastes soft, but as it ages, it acquires light spicy notes. The variety is universal, can be served at a festive table, or can be consumed on an everyday basis.

Camembert also came from France. Fresh cheese has a slight mushroom flavor. The structure is soft, but covered with a hard crust. The cheese wheel should also be firm when cutting. It is stored very poorly and does not last long.

Under natural conditions, neither one nor the other mold germinates. There are similar types, but for cheeses it is created artificially.

Composition (vitamins and microelements)

The composition of the cheese will mainly depend on its variety. Approximate chemical composition of blue varieties:

Calorie content per 100 grams was 340 kcal. The maximum daily dose per person is 50 grams. It is not recommended to exceed it, regardless of the variety, its freshness and quality.

Is it possible for pregnant and lactating women

Pregnant women should not use this product. It can provoke a bacterial disease, due to which the immune system is impaired. As a result, a miscarriage may occur. Breastfeeding mothers are advised to check with their doctor whether small amounts of the product are acceptable for consumption.

Storage

Storing moldy cheeses at home is a delicate job. It should be borne in mind that if the storage temperature is inappropriate, the mold will begin to actively devour the cheese itself. The average storage temperature ranges from 4-6 degrees. But the Brie variety breaks this rule; it can be kept at temperatures even down to -20 degrees; it will not change its qualities.

You need to keep the product wrapped in film or foil, because otherwise mold from it can spread to other products stored in the refrigerator. And the product actively absorbs foreign odors. If you keep it open, it will absorb all the aromas of the food, which will negatively affect its taste. You won't be able to enjoy this product even if you want to.

Brie cheese should be consumed within a maximum of 2 weeks, Italian Gorgonzola will not last longer than 5 days, Camembert can be enjoyed up to 5 weeks, and Roquefort up to 4 weeks.

How to choose

Moldy cheeses are rightfully considered elite and are quite expensive in stores. It is better to buy them in premium-oriented stores. Because there is a high probability that an elite product has been lying in the nearest budget supermarket for a very long time, becoming covered with not at all elite mold. And proper storage of such products must be organized.

When choosing, pay attention to the following factors:

• Mold on factory-made cheese is distributed evenly, while on home-made cheese its inclusions are found in different places: somewhere more, somewhere less. You can notice this in blue cheeses.
• If you see that there is more mold on the product than cheese, then you should not take it. This means that it has been sitting for too long; the mold has absorbed most of the cheese.
• If you want to purchase a product with white mold, make sure it is really white. A yellowish tint indicates that it is already old. When completely fresh, it will smell like mushrooms, barely audible. If you are old, this smell disappears.

If you have the opportunity to try, be sure to take it. But only if you already have experience in tasting expensive moldy cheeses. It will be easier to determine the freshness and tenderness of the taste with white cheeses, because sometimes even the color of mold cannot be properly understood in the store due to the lighting conditions.

What goes with it?

The combination of cheese with other products will depend on its variety. The exquisite taste of the product is revealed only better in the following combinations:

• Fruits, sweet desserts and honey go well with Camembert. Good quality sparkling wines are suitable as a drink.
• Honey and sweet fruits also pair with the salty Roquefort. But vegetables and peppers can also go well with it. Taken as an appetizer with port wines, other fortified wines, Cahors.
• Shrimp, almonds, and pineapples are combined with the Brie variety. You can also eat it with honey or fruit jam, dipping it in it. This cheese can also serve as an ingredient for creamy cheese soups or as a filling element in puff pastries.
• For Dor Blue, it is best to take a plate with various nuts or grapes and snack on pieces of fresh white bread. Seafood dishes are also suitable for eating with this type of moldy cheese. As an appetizer, it is used with red wines, perfectly complementing them with its salty taste.
• Gorgonzola goes well with fresh bread or potatoes. They will not block its taste, they will not interrupt its smell. As an appetizer, Gorgonzola can be paired with the strongest red wines and even elite beers.

Keep in mind that only high-quality foods and drinks will help to reveal the taste of moldy cheese. Trying to combine an exquisite variety with a cheap, low-quality wine is not worth it. It is better to consume it separately than to supplement it with inappropriate products that are not able to reveal the aroma and delicate taste. Gourmets recommend starting to get acquainted with cheeses with the Brie variety, which has a rather sharp taste. You still need to get used to it before continuing your journey into the world of taste pleasures.