When cheesemakers go to sleep, what do they dream of? Our money's on creamy blue cheese. With its soft, luscious texture and its rich, pungent taste, creamy blue cheese has all the qualities to make it the stuff of cheese dreams.
Here in Wisconsin, we spend a lot of time dreaming and thinking about creamy blue cheese. We imagine whipping it into sauces and spooning it onto steaks. We spread it on crostini in our minds. Luckily, our state is home to some of the best creamy blue cheese in the world – and lots of it. So the journey to fulfilling our dreams is just the distance between here and the refrigerator.
If you're ready to meet some life-changing creamy blue cheese, take a spin around our website. You'll also find recipes for dishes with blue cheese, and ideas for the best cheese for a cheese board. If you want to learn more about what pairs well with creamy blue cheese, read on.
If you have a taste for culinary adventure, creamy blue cheese is always ready to ride shotgun. Slather it on baked potatoes with bits of bacon or toss it with fresh gnocchi and pancetta. Dollop it on your flat iron steak or spoon it onto grilled mangoes and drizzle it with honey. Stuff it into baked mushroom caps or add it to a baked mac and cheese. And a homemade blue cheese dressing will electrify any salad.
On a cheese platter, creamy blue cheese pairs beautifully with candied walnuts, dried cranberries, fresh figs, pear and apple slices, and onion jam.
When popping corks, you can always tempt creamy blue cheese with a glass of prosecco or cava - the bubbles are a brilliant contrast to the rich cream in the cheese. For wine, choose hearty reds and fruit-forward, slightly sweet whites, avoiding anything that you'd normally serve with seafood. Creamy blue cheese loves beers and liquor as well, especially port, madeira and tequila, or fruit beers, stout, and Belgian ales.
Creamy blue cheese is a type of cheese that is made with cultures of the mold Penicillium roqueforti to produce deposits or veins of blue-green mold throughout the cheese. The mold gives the cheese a sharp, salty, pungent flavor, while high levels of moisture and butterfat give the cheese a creamy texture.
During the cheesemaking process, a blue cheese mold is injected or mixed in with the curd. After the cheese is formed into wheels and left to age, cheesemakers spike the wheels with stainless steel rods that allow oxygen to flow through the middle of the cheese. Oxygen allows the mold to grow, creating blue-green streaks in veins throughout the cheese.
When it comes to texture, there are two basic types of blue cheese. Creamy blue cheese is made by adding cream to the curd to create a smoother, more luxurious texture. Creamy blue cheeses tend to be less aged, preserving their high moisture content. Crumbly blue cheeses have less butterfat and are aged longer, resulting in less moisture and a denser curd. A blue cheese crumble is a perfect topper for salads, burgers, and pastas.
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For anyone who loves cheese, Wisconsin is a slice of blue heaven. For starters, we make more flavors, styles, and varieties of cheese than anywhere else on earth – more than 600 and counting. That's why one-quarter of all the cheese in America comes from Wisconsin, and nearly half of all the artisan cheese as well.
And while the amount of cheese we make is amazing, the quality of Wisconsin cheese is incredible. Our cheesemakers are the award-winningest cheese geniuses on the planet, claiming 5500+ cheese awards. That's more than any other state or country in the world. How do they do it? Easy. Everyone Wisconsin – from dairy farmers to cheesemakers to customers – is dedicated to one simple goal: making and enjoying the tastiest, highest-quality cheese in the universe.
So, next time you're craving some creamy blue cheese, just look for the Proudly Wisconsin Cheese badge on the label. That way you know you're about to taste a slice of blue heaven.
Craving award-winning aged cheddar, pining for parmesan, or searching for a new cheese to try? The world’s best cheese is just a click away! Explore our directory of Wisconsin cheesemakers and retailers who offer online cheese shopping and get cheese shipped right to your door. What are you waiting for?
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