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Bleu d'Auvergne
The creation of this cheese
is yet another one of those delicious accidents that pock so many food origins.
In the 1850s, a young cheesemaker discovered the accidental blueing of some of
his wheels of cow milk cheese. Upon tasting the cheese, he decided he liked it
and set about trying to encourage this same mold to grow intentionally. When a
loaf of rye bread placed near his cheese started growing the same kind of mold,
the cheesemaker surmised that the mold might be airborne. Of course, close to a
decade later microbiologist and chemist Louis Pasteur would prove that molds,
microbes, or germs found in the air could influence organic matter. Today Bleu
d'Auvergne is purposely inoculated with Penicillium
roqueforti and as such, it is often
referred to as the cow's milk Roquefort.
Creamier than Roquefort, Bleu
d'Auvergne is soft and buttery with some salt in the finish. Not as aggressive
as other blues, this pale yellow cheese with greenish-blue veins is mildly spicy
with notes of grass and regional wild flowers.
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