Moldy cheeses are a valuable source of minerals, vitamins, essential amino acids and highly digestible proteins. There is practically no lactose in these cheeses - however, all the beneficial properties of milk are fully preserved in them, and the product itself is high in calories and contains a large amount of fat.
Blue cheese names
The most popular mold cheeses are brie and camembert. These French white cheeses with a soft crust and a velvety gray noble mold are recommended for the first acquaintance with such products. Their taste and appearance are not much different from each other, but any Frenchman can distinguish them in a few seconds.
Brie cheese bears the proud status of the king of cheeses and cheese of kings, and its name comes from the French province of the same name.
Brie and Camembert go well with ripe pears, figs, quince, grapes, peaches, cherries, raisins, walnuts and almonds. Gourmets also use them with smoked meats, ripe tomatoes, fresh homemade bread and fragrant herbs - from basil to dill.
Blue-mold cheeses, unlike brie and camembert, do not have a superficial mold crust - it forms a marble pattern inside the head, giving the cheese a rich pungent taste and piquant aroma. The most classic and famous blue cheese is Roquefort, alternatives to which are less expensive cheeses such as Danish Danablu, English Stilton, Italian Gorgonzola, German Dorblu and Bergader, and French dish d'Auvergne. Blue cheeses go great with fruits, custard, honey, crackers, celery, apples and dark chocolate.
How to choose quality mold cheese
Brie and Camembert should have a slight mushroom smell of penicillin, while a pungent ammonia smell indicates a stale product. In these cheeses, only a slight bitterness and a slight crust moisture are allowed, which indicates the correct storage of the product. The cheese mass of brie or camembert should be tender, smooth and slightly oily.
An indicator of low-quality mold cheese with a white crust is the presence of voids in the cheese mass.
Blue-mold cheeses should have a delicate, moist and loose mass of a uniform consistency. They must be stored in waxed paper or food foil at a temperature of 4 to 6 ° C - this is necessary so that spores of cheese mold do not spread to other products, and the cheese itself does not dry out.
The meal should always end with cheese, not start with eating it. The tasting of blue cheeses should start with tender soft varieties, and end with hard varieties with a pungent spicy taste.
