Asset ID: 80527266 / Foodcollection / Blue cheese with pieces cut on paper

Blue cheese is a general classification of cow's milk, sheep's milk, or goat's milk cheeses that have had cultures of the mould Penicillium added so that the final product is spotted or veined throughout with blue, blue-grey or blue-green mould, and carries a distinct smell, either from that or various specially cultivated bacteria. Some blue cheeses are injected with spores before the curds form and others have spores mixed in with the curds after they form. Blue cheeses are typically aged in a temperature-controlled environment such as a cave . Blue cheese can be eaten by itself or can be crumbled or melted over foods.
In the European Union many blue cheeses such as Roquefort , Gorgonzola and Blue Stilton carry a protected designation of origin , meaning they can bear the name only if they have been made in a particular region in a certain country. Similarly, individual countries have protections of their own such as France's Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée and Italy's Denominazione di Origine Protetta . Blue cheeses with no protected origin name are designated simply "blue cheese".
The characteristic flavour of blue cheeses tends to be sharp and salty. The smell of this food is due both to the mould and to types of bacteria encouraged to grow on the cheese: for example, the bacterium Brevibacterium linens is responsible for the smell of many blue cheeses, as well as foot odour and other human body odours.

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