Along with Penicillium roqueforti spores, the cheese is aged with a sweet white Vouvray wine. Different countries seem to have come up with methods of creating blue cheese at different times, but each has a story about someone forgetting about some cheese in a cave. While blue cheese is poked with needles, they are not “injecting” the mold into the cheese; they are helping it to grow. Working with raw milk as they do, Lindsay and Jeff are providing an expression of the milk and the northwestern Washington terroir from which it came—and so every day’s make sheet will show a collection of different factors. Since one of the harps is missing a string, Lindsay follows Jeff with a long knife, using a practiced hand to slice exactly where that missing string should have cut through the curd (see cover photo). Weren’t we supposed to avoid it with every chance? In the past, many women on the farm made Blue Vinny (vinney is an old English word for mold), and often got the mold in the cheese through some unsavory methods like dirty horse harnesses and slug slime. Different from Stichelton, which is made from raw milk, Stilton cheese is made from pasteurized milk. And on other days of the week, they will make batches of Whatcom Farmhouse and Whatcom Farmhouse with Whole Peppercorns. This is the story of how blue mold became the hottest mold in cheese. It has a creamy and smooth texture and a slightly sharp and salty flavor, which is similar to Roquefort but milder. However you decide to use your blue cheese, be sure to savor this Ancient delicacy and dream of the mystical French caves where it was first made! One of the more popular stories is that a drunk cheesemaker left a loaf of bread in the cave which attracted mold that spread to the cheese. [13] Salt is then added to provide flavor as well as to act as a preservative so the cheese does not spoil through the process of brine salting or dry salting for 24–48 hours. [11] This heat treatment also inactivates the Penicillium roqueforti, inhibiting further fermentation. To begin with, the commercial scale production of blue cheese consists of two phases: the culturing of suitable spore-rich inocula and fermentation for maximum, typical flavor.[10]. The process of making blue cheeses follows the exact same steps that lead to regular cheeses, too. Last April, two of my curd nerd pals, Elle and Izzy, and I traveled north from Seattle to Ferndale, Washington, to help make some blue cheese. And finally, after a pretty short amount of time and a whole lot of work, all of the wheels are molded and draining, and it is time to clean up the make room. B. linens was previously thought to give cheeses their distinct orangish pigmentation, but studies show this not to be the case and blue cheese is an example of the lack of that orange pigmentation. Twin Sisters Creamery, which boasts a cute storefront where you can shop and taste cheese while you watch the cheesemaking process through a big glass window, is where we were headed to help owner-cheesemakers Lindsay and Jeff Slevin craft a batch of their original cheese, Whatcom Blue. [15], For the salad dressing and dipping sauce, see, Toxins from the production of blue cheese. can also be found in Stilton cheese. [26] Salt is allowed to be used as a preservative; however, the amount of the salt or combination of salts shall not exceed 200 parts per million of the milk and milk products used to make the cheese. In a blender, blend together the blue cheese and cold water until smooth. Learn how your comment data is processed. ( Log Out / Although Penicillium roqueforti can be found naturally, cheese producers nowadays use commercially manufactured Penicillium roqueforti. Find out how the cheese making process works, at Rogue Creamery in Oregon. [28][30], Stilton blue cheese was first sold in the village of Stilton in England but there is little evidence it was ever made there. Similarly, individual countries have protections of their own such as France's Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée and Italy's Denominazione di Origine Protetta. [14], Throughout the ripening process, the total ketone content is constantly monitored as the distinctive flavor and aroma of blue cheese arises from methyl ketones (including 2-pentanone, 2-heptanone, and 2-nonanone)[15] which are a metabolic product of Penicillium roqueforti. Blue cheese is one of the greatest and tastiest burger toppings known to man. Then you, too, will be able to see how blue cheese is made! It was moist in the cave so the mold would form. [4], Blue cheese is believed to have been discovered by accident when cheeses were stored in natural temperatures and moisture-controlled caves which happen to be favorable environments for many varieties of harmless mold. Penicillium roqueforti and Penicillium glaucum are both molds that require the presence of oxygen to grow. Lindsay is constantly checking the temperature and pH of the milk; she tests samples and records times, dates, and a blur of numbers. [27] Penicillium roqueforti is the cause of the blue veins in Roquefort cheese. It's delightfully nuanced, both creamy and aromatic, complex and intense, with sharp and sweet flavor notes. -. From gorgonzola to Stilton to Blue Vinny, the cheese style has a distinctive stinky and tangy quality that makes it popular with cheese fans and cheesemakers across the globe. Each of us is allowed to help fill a table’s worth of molds. There are many varieties of blue cheese. After the cheese was made it would then be stored in the caves to finish the aging process.