Is it healthy to eat blue cheese? The most famous blue cheese

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Blue cheese is an aristocratic product, for the production of which domesticated species of Penicillium camamber spores are used. white mold) or Penicillium roqueforti (blue). There is also orange, which is obtained by washing white sea ​​water or wine.

Mold cheeses have an unusual delicate taste. On Russian market There is a limited range of this product due to its high price. The most common blues are the German Dor Blue, the Italian Gorgonzola, the British Stilton and the French Roquefort. White mold cheeses Camembert and Brie are also popular.

Is blue and white mold cheese healthy? Should it be included in a family or personal diet? Let's find out!

How to choose a good one and check the quality

High-quality blue cheese should only be purchased from stores or supermarkets that you trust. Blue varieties should be visible in cross-section.

Cheeses with white mold are often sold in small packages. When choosing a product you need to pay attention to the following factors:

• Smell. The product with blue mold smells sharp and strong, with a mushroom undertone. With white - it has a weak, delicate, barely perceptible mushroom aroma with a mossy aftertaste.

  A strong ammonia smell means improper storage conditions or an expired expiration date, which should not exceed two months.

• Composition, which should include only milk (fresh or sour), enzymes for cheese production, penicillin bacteria and salt. The presence of dyes, preservatives and other food additives means that the product is fake.
• Taste. It should be clean, leaving a pleasant aftertaste after tasting. A high-quality product melts in your mouth and has a delicate texture without dry or hard inclusions.
• When cut, the cheese mass should be continuous, no holes. The latter mean a gross violation of technology during production.
• High-quality cheese is elastic to the touch, slightly springy.

You should also pay attention to the quality of the mold. White is a delicate white fluff or crust covering the surface of the cheese mass. Such a product usually remains inside white. The exception is Brie Noir, which is pink in color, but it is unlikely to be found on the shelves in Russia.

Blue varieties have marbled blue or turquoise inclusions throughout the cut. Continuous mold throughout the cheese mass means the product is quite old. Eating it is not recommended.

Composition, calorie content per 100 grams, nutritional value and glycemic index

Most cheeses, including mold cheeses, are made from full-fat cow's milk. Homemade - from whole, and industrial - from boiled. A number of elite blue cheese aristocrats with a piquant taste are made from. For example, Tanguy, Picadon, Chabichou du Poitou. Roquefort is produced from sheep.

The nutritional value of the entire range of products depends on the fat content and quality of the source milk. However, it has been established that average calorie content is approximately 350 kcal/100 g.

All blue cheeses contain:

• milk fat - 30 g/100 g;
• proteins - 20 g/100 g.

There are no carbohydrates in the product. This means that the glycemic index is zero, that is, all types cheese delicacies with mold can be safely enjoyed by people suffering.

These products also contain essential amino acids:

• valine;
• arginine;
• histidine;
• tryptophan.

These substances cannot be synthesized human body on one's own. They must be supplied with food. Valine and histidine in combination with milk fat have a strong regenerating effect. Capable of rejuvenating body tissues.

Histidine and tryptophan are involved in the synthesis of the hormone serotonin, without which a person’s emotional life becomes dull.

Cheese elite is distinguished by a high content of microelements such as (530 g/100 g) and (390 mg/100 g). They are completely digestible, since the product contains another magical compound - lecithin, which balances the nervous system and has a beneficial effect on digestion.

When considering the composition, do not forget about penicillin, which produces mold. Blue cheeses contain no vitamins a large number of. The most valuable of them is K, which promotes blood thinning and has a wound-healing effect.

On the pages of our website you will also learn a lot of interesting things about, as well as the selection rules quality product!

Health Benefits

Thanks to the presence of penicillin, all mold aristocrats have an anti-inflammatory effect.

All cheeses are very healthy, but thanks to cultivated fungi, they acquire the following beneficial properties:

• activate calcium absorption;
• promote the synthesis of melanin in the skin. This helps neutralize harmful effects sun rays.
• normalize intestinal function, preventing flatulence and dysbacteriosis;
• restore hormonal balance, improve the psycho-emotional state due to the increased production of glucocorticoids secreted by the adrenal glands;
• promote rapid wound healing due to the presence of the amino acids valine and histidine;
• have a beneficial effect on the functioning of the heart muscle, improve the condition of blood vessels. Vitamin K and substances released by sprouted mold spores prevent the formation of blood clots and activate blood flow.

It should be noted that for optimal well-being, the daily intake of cheese should not exceed 50 g.

Features of the influence on the human body

Blue cheese is especially beneficial for people suffering from lactose intolerance. These products do not contain it. But there is milk fat in combination with lecithin and essential amino acids, which have a strong tonic and tissue-restoring effect.

Benefits for adult men and women

Elite varieties, in addition to easily digestible calcium and milk fat, also contain protein, which is necessary to maintain healthy muscles and connective tissues.

Varieties with white mold are rich in conjugated fatty acids, which have antitumor properties.

For women, this elite product is useful in preparing for pregnancy. when the body needs to create a reserve of calcium and phosphorus.

Also, daily moderate consumption of mold cheese alleviates premenstrual syndrome and prevents the development of depression.

Men need these products during high physical and mental stress.. Tryptophan will give you inspiration, and lecithin will prevent creative burnout.

Thanks to the high nutritional value and expressive piquant taste, a small amount of cheese creates a feeling of fullness and comfort without burdening the stomach.

IMPORTANT! If you abuse blue cheeses, you may gain weight due to high calorie content. Headaches may also appear as a reaction of the body to an excess amount of cheese fungi.

During pregnancy and lactation

During this important time for women, it is strictly forbidden to eat blue cheese.. Cheese dough is a favorable environment for the proliferation of listeria. These pathogens can cause listeriosis to develop in a pregnant or lactating woman.

An organism with normal immunity can successfully ignore this disease. Unfortunately, during pregnancy and lactation, listeriosis may be accompanied by high temperature, fever, vomiting.

Is it harmful to children's health?

It is better to offer regular cheeses to children under 12 years of age. Consumption of elite mold varieties by children threatens the development of listeriosis. This disease can slow down the physical and intellectual development of a child and weaken his immunity.

Listeria and its effect on the human body have not yet been studied enough. Therefore, there is no guarantee that a baby who is infected will receive proper treatment. After 12 years, you can begin to accustom your child to elite cheeses to form healthy eating habits.

It's better to start with Brie. It has a delicate consistency and a faint aroma of champignons.

In old age

In adulthood, if possible, it is very useful to treat yourself to blue cheese. These products, when consumed in moderation, successfully resist the following diseases:

• heart failure;
• osteoporosis;
• atherosclerosis;
• age-related depression.

They also improve memory and activate mental activity.

Potential dangers and contraindications

The main danger of mold cheeses is individual intolerance to penicillin and infection with listeria when the body’s immunity is low. You should also not eat cheese if you have the following diseases:

• fungal, including thrush;
• arthritis and polyarthritis;
• asthma and neurodermatitis.

You should use the product very carefully if you are obese and prone to swelling due to quite high content salt, especially in varieties with blue mold.

Some more interesting facts about the benefits and harms of blue and white mold cheese - exquisite delicacy– learn from the following video clip:

The product is best eaten in the evening, since calcium is absorbed by the body at night.

Blue cheese with mold has been known for many years; it has been used since ancient times. Many people deny themselves the pleasure of eating such a product because they believe that it will harm their health, although the opposite is true. The category of blue mold cheeses includes products that have a specific green with a blue tint to the color of the cheese mass (see photo).

During production, mold of the genus Penicillium is most often used. Cheese is produced similarly to other options: first, milk is curdled by introducing starter, and then cheese heads are formed. Then, using special needles, mold is introduced into the mass. Then the heads are sent for maturation, during which mold spreads.

The most famous representatives of blue cheeses with mold are: Roquefort, Dor Blue and Gorgonzola.

If this is your first time trying a similar product, then start with soft Brie cheese and only after that switch to Roquefort, as you need to get used to its smell and specific taste.

Types of blue cheeses

There are many types of blue mold cheeses. In these varieties, the mold is located inside the cheese and not outside. The taste of a dairy product depends on the ingredients used, the production method and the degree of ripening.

The following varieties of blue mold cheeses are widely known:

1. Bergader. Produced in Upper Bavaria. Cheese made from pasteurized milk, semi-hard consistency, with a creamy-sweet flavor. The taste of mold is pungent and slightly salty. Bergader cheese is recommended to be added to sauces, hot dishes, meat and fish delicacies, served with vegetables, lasagna, and spread on fresh and fried slices of bread. You can also snack on cheese with port wine and fortified red wine.
2. Blue de Langruty. Made in Switzerland. Belongs to varieties of cheese with a semi-hard consistency. The cheese has a creamy flavor, is slightly spicy, and has a spicy aroma. You can eat it as a snack with jam or honey.
3. BlueDelis. The dairy product matures in a cool room for about eight weeks. The result is a cheese with a soft structure, with salty taste and spicy taste. In cooking, it is often used to make salads, blue cheese sauce and pizza. Suitable for use with steak, beer, wine, honey, grapes, nuts and jam.
4. Gorgonzola. Made in Italy from whole goat or cow milk (sometimes the two types of milk are mixed). The texture of the cheese can be soft and crumbly. Gorgonzola requires at least four months to ripen. If the cheese is aged longer, the consistency becomes firmer. Cheese with a soft consistency matures for fifty days, and it takes spicy cheese takes up to four months. Gorgonzola goes well with walnuts, fruits and vegetables. Incomparable taste and sauces and soufflés have aroma if this product is added to them.
5. Grand Blue. To make cheese, pasteurized cow's milk. Product with creamy taste and with a soft consistency.
6. Dor blue. Produced in Germany. The cheese is not of a very hard consistency, the surface is covered with a white crust, and veins of blue mold are visible inside. The product tastes slightly oily, salty, and slightly bitter. The cheese is aged in cellars for about five months. Dor blue is sometimes called “blue gold” because it is in demand in many countries around the world. In cooking it is used to prepare a variety of appetizers, cold or hot dishes, and sauces. Suitable for serving with red wine.
7. Castello. This cheese is produced in Denmark. To prepare it, cow's milk is mixed with cream, and then the milk mixture is pasteurized. The cheese is creamy, with a salty, spicy and mushroom flavor. Ripens in ten weeks. Pairs well with semi-sweet white wine. Great to eat with fruits such as apples and pears. Castello cheese can be added to salads and fish cakes.
8. Kuban Blues. Characterized quite bright taste hazelnuts with the most delicate and piquant flavor. The cheese belongs to the semi-hard varieties. Fans of this product It is recommended to eat it with confiture, honey, pear, currants, mango, strawberries and grapes.
9. Mastarablu. Made in Armenia. To create cheese, they take milk, table salt and mold brought from France. Ripens in sixty days.
10. Mont Blue. Salty cheese with hazelnut flavor. Recommended to eat with a slice white bread, and also combine with fresh vegetables, nuts, avocado and red wine.
11. Roquefort. Produced in France from goat milk. The product matures for several months (from three to ten) and only in the Roquefort-sur-Soulzon cave, since it is there that there are special bacteria that are used to make this cheese. To speed up the growth of mold, slices of rye bread are left in the cave. Roquefort has a very sharp, but pleasant taste. The surface of the cheese is white, and inside there are streaks of blue mold.
12. Rocforti. Belongs to hard cheese varieties. Made from cow's milk, animal derived enzyme, table salt, bacterial starter and mold fungus. The aroma of cheese is close to the smell sour milk and yeast. The taste of the product is creamy, slightly spicy. The taste of mold is practically not felt.
13. Chizzy. It is made from pasteurized cow's milk, quite salty, the top of the cheese is covered with green mold, and the inside is blue. Pairs well with red wine and fruit.

We can conclude that all varieties of blue mold cheeses are divided into soft and hard varieties, and also have a specific aroma and taste that will be appreciated only by select gourmets who are by nature connoisseurs of delicate and refined dishes.

How to select and store?

When choosing blue cheese with mold, pay attention to the cut: the cheese channels should not be too obvious and there should be few of them. Despite the rather loose consistency, the product should not crumble.

Store blue cheese in cool place and always in insulated packaging so that mold does not spread to other products.

When choosing authentic blue cheese, keep in mind that all branded cheese wheels must be wrapped in wax paper and sealed in an airtight container.

If you want to buy already sliced ​​blue cheese, you need to choose a product that does not have a lot of white mold on the surface. If such mold is present, it means that the storage conditions of the product were violated.

The aroma of blue cheeses with mold can be completely varied. However, there should definitely be no ammonia smell present.

The shelf life of such products also varies. Soft varieties can be stored for no more than seven days after opening the package. Durum varieties Blue cheese is edible for about three weeks. After the expiration date, it is not recommended to eat the product. Some experts advise storing the product in a special cabinet where air will constantly circulate and sunlight will not penetrate. But if there is no such cabinet, mold cheese can be put in the refrigerator. Optimal temperature for storing blue cheese - not below zero and not above five degrees.

Beneficial features

The benefits of blue cheese with mold are due to the presence beneficial bacteria, as well as minerals and vitamins in it. At regular use A small amount of the product improves digestion and gastrointestinal activity.

This cheese contains a large amount of phosphorus and calcium - minerals that are involved in the regeneration and strengthening of bone tissue. Blue cheese also contains various vitamins and other minerals, the beneficial properties of which are necessary to maintain normal life functions.

In addition to the fact that blue cheese has a beneficial effect on gastrointestinal tract, the product is also useful to eat in stressful situations as a sedative.

This cheese is irreplaceable for sleep disorders, for normalization blood pressure and improved vision. Eating blue cheese also helps improve performance.

When using the product, swelling of blood vessels is relieved, resulting in improved functioning of the circulatory system.

Blue cheese also helps increase and strengthen muscle mass.

By eating mold cheese, you can protect sensitive skin from exposure to sunlight, so as not to cause burns and the appearance of age spots due to the fact that mold contains special substances that ensure the production of melanin.

Use in cooking

Blue cheese with mold in cooking is most often served as independent snack or on cheese plate like dessert. This product pairs perfectly with elite wines.

Blue cheese with mold reveals its taste even more when combined with grapes, pears and other fruits.

Based on this product they prepare different sauces, appetizers and salads.

It is important that the product reveals the fullness of its promatic and taste qualities, therefore, before using, first remove it from the refrigerator (a couple of hours before).

“What is the correct way to eat blue cheese?” - It would seem a strange question, since it is already clear how to eat the product. However, cheese experts advise you to first try blue cheese brie in order to fully taste its specific taste and get used to it. And only then begin to taste other varieties of the product with a less harsh aftertaste, gradually moving on to such well-known moldy cheeses as Roquefort and Camembert. The daily intake of the product does not exceed fifty grams.

You should also find out what you can eat blue cheese with. Since the product has a very pungent taste, it is best consumed with wine.

It should be remembered that before serving, the cheese must be heated to room temperature. The product combines best with:

• fruits;
• crispbread;
• vegetables;
• cracker.

Sometimes blue mold cheese is added to pizza, hot dishes (soups), salads and sauces.

But blue cheese Roquefort is better to eat without anything.

Cooking at home

Making blue cheese at home is quite a labor-intensive job. All ingredients can be purchased at special cheese-making stores. Before you start making the product, you should remember that in order to get real blue cheese with mold, you need to follow the specified recipe exactly.

So, you need to pour eight liters of cow’s milk into a saucepan with a volume of about ten liters and heat it in a water bath to a temperature of sixty-two degrees. Afterwards, the milk needs to be cooled to thirty degrees, and then pour 1/4 teaspoon of mesophilic starter and 1/16 teaspoon of blue mold into the liquid, mixing thoroughly from top to bottom. Cover the pan with the contents with a lid and do not touch for about thirty minutes.

After half an hour, mix the milk mixture again and add calcium chloride diluted in fifty milliliters of water (you will need 1/4 teaspoon), and again set aside for about ninety minutes. During this period of time, a clot should form, which should be cut vertically and horizontally.

The resulting clots must be transferred to a colander covered with a bag. After this, the bag needs to be tied and hung so that the excess liquid drains (this will take about forty minutes). Then you need to lower the cheese into a deep container, chop it, add salt to taste, stir well and place the weight on top again. During the first 24 hours, the cheese should be turned every six hours. On the second day - every twelve hours. On the third day, the cheese needs to be transferred to parchment paper

so that the product is dried at room temperature for twenty-four hours. After a day on the surface homemade cheese punctures should be made at a distance of two centimeters from each other. Place the product in a container and take it to a fairly cool room where temperature regime

It will be within ten degrees Celsius. To fully ripen, the cheese should lie in a container for four weeks. After twenty-eight days, homemade blue cheese will be ready

, and it can be served with slices of white bread, or cookies, or red wine. This product can also be added to soup, salad, sauce or pasta.

Harmfulness of blue cheese and contraindications Blue cheese with mold can cause harm to those who have an individual intolerance to the product, which means its introduction into the diet of allergy sufferers is contraindicated. Do not forget about the high calorie content of the product.

Consuming it in large quantities will have a bad effect on your figure.

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 everyone knows. 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 obtain daily norm 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 it this type cheese. The reasons may be different: fears, rejection, lack of information, inability to properly use such cheese, and simply lack of money - after all elite varieties Blue cheeses 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 connoisseurs cheese 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.

Blue cheese 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 kind of 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, in the received cheese mass special metal needles are inserted to help mold 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 intestines function, 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.

Blue cheese 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. To a healthy person You can consume no more than 50 grams of cheese per day, but less is still better.

Blue cheese 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? 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 them 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.

Choosing soft cheese with a white moldy crust, 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 in real cheese do not add.

Tastes like cheese fresh oil, 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 nutrition, helping to live, grow and develop. IN good cheese many elements that we need in life, and besides, it is very tasty. So let your favorite varieties of cheese always be on your table!

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 a refined taste. spicy taste and oily 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, 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 a 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 problems oily skin faces.
• Doctors recommend taking 50 g 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 great content proteins will cause harm, not benefit, to patients with dysfunction endocrine system and obesity.

How to make blue cheese

The easiest varieties to prepare are Livarot, Brie Noir and Munster. So,how to make blue cheesered by washing or soaking curd mass V different 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 all year round within 9 degrees, and humidity 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 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 - not the best good option. It contains a lot of foreign odors and little oxygen.

How to eat correctly

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 they present on the cheese plate walnuts or almonds. 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 others soft types Pairs perfectly with Chardonnay and sparkling champagne.

Recipes with blue cheese

The overseas delicacy is part of many delicious recipes: it makes excellent sauces, light salad, polenta and Italian risotto. In fashionable restaurants you can taste Mushroom cream soup or enjoy green beans at cream 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 easy refueling from 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 things.;
• 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 with 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 suitable for light buffet or festive banquet in style buffet. 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:

The appearance on the shelves of our country of such a delicacy, the appearance of which cannot be called familiar, occurred relatively recently. However, despite this, it has already become a favorite product of many people, although it also has staunch opponents. Some believe that blue cheese is very healthy, while others, on the contrary, are convinced that consuming it is harmful, allegedly it can provoke an exacerbation of certain diseases. What does this product do - harm or benefit? Let's try to find the answer to this question.

What are the benefits of blue cheese?

Not all mold that covers cheese is suitable for inclusion in the diet. Of course, elite Roquefort cannot be compared with cheese that has developed mold due to long storage in the refrigerator. There will definitely be no benefit from the latter. To create the delicacy, special varieties of mold are used, which differ from the poisonous one in aroma, quality and appearance.

To create unique product, the cheese substrate is combined with spores of blue mold or Penicillium Roquefort. The surface of such cheese is covered the most delicate fluff fungi or mold that are not found in the natural environment and appeared only during human activity, thanks to repeated artificial selection.

It is impossible to create blue cheese - blue or white - naturally without deliberately introducing fungal spores. The product is prepared only from domesticated spores that have undergone careful selection.

Cheese is a product that in itself brings great benefit due to the presence in its composition of many microelements necessary for the human body. But when it germinates with fungal spores, it is further enriched with beneficial properties. Among the similar qualities of blue cheese are the following:

1. Improving calcium absorption. Like any other product made from milk, cheese contains a lot of calcium. But for the body to receive required amount This microelement is not enough to consume cheese, cottage cheese and other dairy products. The calcium they contain is not always absorbed. For productive calcium metabolism, you should include in your menu foods that promote the absorption of this substance. These include blue cheese. Thus, more calcium will enter the body than from plain cheese consumed in the same amount.
2. Decline harmful influence ultraviolet rays. This delicacy contains elements that lead to increased production of melanin in human skin. This substance prevents the penetration of ultraviolet rays into the epidermis, preventing the formation of sunburn.
3. Prevention of dysbacteriosis and increased gas formation. When artificially introduced fungal spores enter the intestines, they help create favorable conditions for the growth and development of beneficial bacteria. They inhibit the processes by which undigested foods begin to break down, ferment and decompose.
4. Enriching the body with proteins. A small slice of noble mold cheese will deliver to the body large quantity protein when compared to a similarly sized piece of fish or meat. The substance takes part in the formation of muscle tissue.
5. Beneficial effects on the heart and blood vessels. People who often eat elite varieties of moldy cheeses are less likely to suffer strokes or heart attacks. In addition, fungal spores help thin the blood, thereby reducing the risk of clots and improving blood flow.
6. Normalizing hormone levels and relieving tension. Noble mold contains large amounts of vitamin B5, which is responsible for the production of glucocorticoid hormones produced in the adrenal glands. With a deficiency of this substance, a person quickly gets tired, suffers from insomnia, and becomes depressed.

Although the product has many beneficial properties, there is a downside in this case too. The product will be harmful to health if consumed in quantities exceeding 50 g per day. Otherwise, the fungal spores will suppress the natural microflora - there will be a malfunction in the functioning of the intestines, dysbacteriosis.

Mold contains elements that cause allergic reaction. In case of hypersensitivity to penicillin and fungal infections, the product must be removed from the diet.

During pregnancy and breastfeeding You should avoid eating blue cheese because it contains listeria. Such bacteria can lead to the development of infectious diseases. If in a person with a strong immune system listeriosis goes away without significant clinical manifestations, then in expectant mother Symptoms such as vomiting, increased body temperature, and fever may occur. A similar load on immune system can lead to extremely unfavorable consequences: spontaneous abortion, defects in fetal formation, and premature delivery.

How to use it correctly

Making real blue cheese will take a lot of time and follow some rules. This and the complex recipe are responsible for the high cost of the product, as well as the fact that it is quite rare on store shelves.

In order for the exquisite taste of blue cheese to fully develop, you need to know how to properly consume this delicacy:

1. Camembert, whose taste is distinguished by its piquancy and sharpness, will be fully revealed if you consume this cheese with champagne, honey, and fruit (especially with Vnigrad).
2. Gorgonzola is an Italian blue moldy cheese with a bright taste, best eaten with potatoes and bread. These neutral products will highlight the pronounced taste of cheese. In addition, such a product will be great snack To alcoholic drinks– beer, white and red wines.
3. Brie is a soft cheese originally from France, made from cow's milk. It is advisable to place almonds, pineapple or melon slices, as well as shrimp on the dish next to it. Gourmets prefer to dip cheese, which has the most delicate taste, in honey or apple jam. If you cut off the moldy crust from the product, it can become an ingredient for sauces or soups.
4. Dor Blue is a soft blue cheese made in Germany that goes well with grapes, nuts, and dried fruits. It is included in pies and pizza. From alcohol to cheese that has a slightly salty flavor, red wine is the best option.
5. Roquefort is a variety of French blue cheese. Sheep's milk is used for production. Its salty taste is reminiscent of hazelnuts. Maximum development of taste will occur if you combine it with fruits, sweet desserts, honey, as well as vegetables and herbs. As for alcohol, it is better to serve this cheese with strong wines, Cahors or white wine.

Video: 5 reasons to eat blue cheese!