What is blue cheese? The name of this type of product speaks for itself. This is a special kind of cheese, in which bacteria that are safe for the human body are added during production. From them mold appears. These are mainly Penicillium bacteria. They have a characteristic specific taste and smell. Most cheeses in France are made using this bacterium. For example, camembert or brie. By color, the mold can be white, blue, blue, green, and so on. It can envelop the cheese head slightly from above or be inside in the form of peculiar veins.
Soft blue
cheese is made from cow's milk. Depending on the region and pastures, the taste of milk and, therefore, the finished product depends. An exception is blue cheese, whose name is Roquefort.
Sheep milk is used for its production
.It is conditionally possible to divide cheeses into soft and blue. Most of them are elite varieties. The average ripening period is from two to six weeks. Flavoring hues and aromas can be very diverse. It all depends on the cooking method. In terms of production technology, soft cheeses are divided into several types. Some are ready for use immediately after the production is completed, while others require a short exposure. Therefore, cheese with mold, the name of the subgroup of which corresponds to the description of appearance, can be divided into:
1. White cheeses. A thin white crust with a slight bloom of mold forms on their surface. Its cultivation is carried out by spraying penicillin bacteria. As a result, the cheese is obtained with a peculiar piquant taste and smell: a little ammonia, spicy pepper or mushroom. The most popular blue cheese, called Camembert, has the characteristic smell of raw soil, mushrooms and moss.
2. Blue cheeses. Ripening occurs from within. Therefore, a plaque of blue mold forms on the surface of the cheese ball . Blue cheese (the name of the most common type is Roquefort) is aged in a deep cellar. Saturation of taste depends on the ripening period. White or pale yellow mass penetrated by veins of green-blue mold, reminiscent of a marble color, has a sharp spicy taste and mushroom aroma. Manufacturing technology is quite simple, but very laborious. Curdling of milk occurs at a temperature of 30 degrees, the cheese mass is suspended in a gauze bag so that the whey drains naturally. After two weeks, the cheese is pierced with needles with mold and salted. It turns out that the veins are evenly distributed throughout the mass.
Also, cheeses are additionally divided into two subgroups: with natural and washed edges. In the latter, mold goes along the edge and it develops from red bacteria. The crust of cheeses of this species has a brownish or light orange color. Mostly such cheeses are produced in Burgundy. The raw material for varieties with natural edges is goat or sheep’s milk. These are very high-calorie cheeses, so eating in your diet should be limited to 50 grams per day.