- Legend has it that Penicillium roqueforti, the blue mold used to make most blue cheeses today, was first discovered in a cave outside the French village of Roquefort in the seventh century AD.
- The first commercial American blue cheese was made in the 1930s and aged in caves in Faribault, Minnesota.
- The average American eats over 11 pounds of cheese per year, but only a quarter pound of that is blue cheese.
- The top-rated blue cheeses in the world in 2020 were Emmi Roth’s gorgonzola from Wisconsin, Bornholms Andelsmejeri’s Danablu 60+ from Denmark, and Käserei Champignon’s Cambozola Black from Germany.
- The top-rated blue cheeses in the United States in 2019 were Westfield Farm’s Classic Blue Log made in Massachusetts, Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company’s Point Reyes Bay Blue made in California, and Old Chatham Creamery’s Ewe’s Blue made in New York.
- The top-rated blue cheeses in Maine in 2021 were Spring Day Creamery’s Fraffie and Deja Blue made in Durham and Fuzzy Udder Creamery’s Polar Vortex made in Whitefield.
- Pears are the most obvious pairing for salty blue cheese due to their mellow sweetness.
- Blue cheese dries as it ages. A young blue is creamy while an aged one is crumbly.
- Ounce per ounce, blue cheese salad dressing has more calories (135) than hot fudge sauce (about 90).
- Blue cheese likes to be cold. Store it in the back of the fridge away from the door so it chills out between 38° and 42°F.
The Well-Travelled Potato
Beth Schiller
