The Bold and the Blue
Blue cheese — with its distinctive veining and powerful flavor — represents one of cheese's most polarizing categories. Yet for those who appreciate it, few cheeses offer such complexity and satisfaction.
How Blue Happens
Blue cheese gets its character from Penicillium roqueforti, a mold introduced during production. As cheese ages, cheesemakers pierce it with needles, allowing oxygen to reach the interior where the mold grows, creating those characteristic blue-green veins.
The Major Styles
Roquefort (France): Aged in caves, this sheep's milk blue has remarkable complexity — at once salty, tangy, creamy, and intensely flavorful. The king of blues.
Gorgonzola (Italy): Cow's milk with two styles. Dolce is mild and creamy; piccante is firmer and more assertive. Both have a distinctive spicy note.
Stilton (England): Dense and crumbly with a sharp, complex flavor. Traditionally paired with port and served with walnuts.
Fourme d'Ambert (France): Milder than Roquefort, with notes of mushroom and earth. An excellent "gateway" blue cheese.
Serving Suggestions
Blue cheese shines in several contexts. Crumbled over salads, it adds richness and tang. Melted, it makes luxurious sauces for steak or pasta. With fruit and honey, it becomes an elegant dessert course.
Wine pairing traditionally involves sweet wines — Sauternes with Roquefort is legendary. The salt-sweet interplay is extraordinary.
