Theres no sitting on the fence when it comes to a blue cheese. You either love it or hate it. But have you ever wondered how it is made?
Some say it’s made by spiking it with copper rods, which causes a reaction, hence blue cheese.
But no...The veins are actually a variety of mould, native to the French caves of Roquefort. The cheesemaker adds these specific strains of mould spores to the cheese vat.
We could even use Grandma’s knitting needles…
Mould needs air to grow, so in order to get the mould into the middle of the cheese we need to spike holes into the cheese, thus allowing the mould to grow through all the crevices of the cheese body. These spikes could be stainless steel or plastic rods, or hey, we could even use grandmas knitting needles, it really doesn't matter. So there you go, copper has nothing to do with the blue veins in cheese, it's all about the funky moulds.
