Product Review: Rosenborg Castello Danish Blue Cheese

Danish Blue cheese (also known as Danablu cheese or Marmora cheese) was developed in the first quarter of the 20th century by a Danish cheesemaker, Marius Boel, who was trying to imitate the French blue cheese, Roquefort.[1] However, the inoculation of Danish blue with mold (Penicillium roqueforti) is different from that of Roquefort. Traditionally loaves of bread were placed in the Combalou caves of France where the mold was naturally found. When the bread was totally consumed, it was dried and the resulting powder (which contained mold spores) was added to the cheese curd.[2] The producers of Danish Blue, instead, use copper wires, coated with the spores, to evenly pierce the pressed cheese curd. If you look closely you can locate the holes left by the inoculating needle.

My verdict: The cheese was smooth and creamy. But I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that eating a blue cheese straight is not for me. It's just too intense. I can handle it melted on a hamburger (e.g. like I did with the Shropshire blue [3]) or perhaps with a dry salami [4], but not by itself or with crackers. Thus it's hard to give a review to a blue cheese since I'm so overwhelmed by the veins. (Not to mention that most blue cheeses contain Penicillium roqueforti [5], so they all have the same intense blue flavor.) Nonetheless, my curiosity is not deterred and I'm sure I will try other blue cheeses in the future. I just might have to dilute them or attenuate them, somehow.

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Notes:

[1] See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish blue cheese.

[2] See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roquefort#Production.

[3] See my review here.

[4] See my review of Boar's Head Italian dry salami here.

[5] See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penicillium roqueforti#Uses. A few are made with Penicillium glaucum.