/ Our magazine / Blue inside, rich outside. What is it about?
/ Our magazine / Blue inside, rich outside. What is it about?
Why is it called blue cheese? It is called that, of course, because it is blue! Or rather, it has blue-green streaks that run through it, as if it were painted by a somewhat eccentric artist with mold as a brush. But don’t worry: that mold is Penicillium Roqueforti or Glaucum, and it is one of the most beloved molds in the world!
It all begins, according to legend, in a cave in France. A shepherd forgot his lunch in a damp cavity. He returned a few weeks later and his cheese was covered in mold, but the smell turned out to be good. He tasted it, and from there the Roquefort was born, the noble father of blue cheeses.
Other countries later realized that the mold wasn’t so bad after all; in fact, the mold gave the cheese more personality! Thus many herbed delights were born, loved today all over the world.
For years, blue cheeses were considered a curiosity for a select few connoisseurs. Those intense colors, those green-blue streaks, and that strong aroma often scared off less adventurous palates. But today, the world of blue cheeses has transformed. And as often happens in the kitchen, what was once considered "strange" is now synonymous with refinement, peculiarity, and the search for authentic taste.
Blue cheeses have become numerous and varied, each with a story, a source milk, and a unique distinctive trait. We no longer just talk about the famous Gorgonzola, the Italian pride, but of a true constellation of flavors. Blue cheese has begun to evolve: no longer just made from cow's milk, but also from goat, sheep, buffalo, and sometimes a skillful mix of all these milks. Thus a new world of blue cheeses was born, each with a different soul.
The goat's milk has brought with it a pungent and fresh character, a tangy note that ignites the mouth and challenges the palate. The shetland milk, richer and fattier, has provided roundness, power, and that deep taste that recalls pasture and wind. And then the buffalo arrived, sweet, buttery, with an enveloping creaminess that surprised everyone: who would have imagined a buffalo blue?
Italian producers, with their expertise, have embraced this challenge. They have aged their blues in dessert wine, wrapped them in pasture hay, and paired them with dried fruit. New and bold names were born. In an increasingly homogenized cheese landscape, blue cheeses represent a conscious choice for those seeking quality, creativity, and a strong tie to the territory.
Tasting them means embarking on a journey through hills, vineyards, and pastures, guided by a blue thread that connects tradition, taste, and innovation.
For example, the Blu ’61 is a blue cheese made from cow's milk aged in Raboso Passito wine and enriched with red berries. A bold idea that creates an extraordinary balance between sweetness, acidity, and aromatic complexity. It is a contemplative cheese, to be served at the table as the absolute protagonist, perhaps alongside a glass of the same Raboso.
The Basajo, on the other hand, is a tribute to the intensity of sheep's milk. Aged in dessert wine and covered with raisins, it surprisingly merges aromatic power with sweet notes. In short, it is the Roquefort meeting the Mediterranean.
The Toma blu alle erbe, aged with hay and mountain aromatic plants, tells a story of pasture, woods, and slow aging. It is a cheese that smells of nature, of alpine pastures, and of green silences.
Today’s variety is such that you can choose a blue cheese for every occasion: spreadable for canapés and appetizers, structured for sauces and first courses, aged to accompany dessert wines, honey, or dried fruit.
A temptation for indulgent and tasty palates: from the Basajo aged in Pantelleria passito to Blu 61, the legendary blue we find in the windows of Harrod’s in London; the Dolomitico aged in Double Malt Beer and what can we say about the smoked blue aged in black tea, which is a taste sensation not to be missed. The blue aged in Fior d'Arancio Passito from the Colli Euganei docg is, finally, a true delight embellished with candied orange peel.
We at Spaghetti&Mandolino are proud to have one of the most important selections of cheeses and certainly we couldn't miss the one dedicated to herbed cheeses known as blue cheeses.
We have relied on small, great artisans of taste, Italian refiners who create these products for great kitchens and starred chefs. Among these, the extraordinary selection of Blues from Sapori del Portico di Giuseppe Bernardinelli, the super award-winning Gorgonzola from Palzola, and the aged Blues from the Carpenedo family of La Casearia Carpenedo.
Want to know our advice? A super platter with three or four of these still unusual and extraordinarily good cheeses, paired with a dessert wine and a couple of honey and mustards: there will be none left for anyone!
They are no longer a niche product. They are a universe. An invitation to overcome prejudices, to open up to new and strong flavors, sometimes surprising. A way to discover the beauty of complexity, the strength of the contrast between sweetness and savoriness, between creaminess and spiciness.
S&M
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