Blue Cheese Primer

In the roughly five years that I worked as a cheesemonger, the shoppers I encountered never seemed nervous to pick out a wedge of Brie or a block of cheddar. But people were often a little apprehensive when they approached our blue cheeses. I was sympathetic. Blue cheese is a big, diverse category of cheese with a reputation for being strongly flavored and punchy. It can intimidate or perplex even adventurous eaters, as evidenced by the questions I heard: Is “Gorgonzola” the Italian word for “blue cheese”? How does the mold grow? Can you cook with fancy blue cheeses, or should you save them for a cheese plate? And—perhaps the most common question—if you love other styles of cheese but have yet to find a blue that you enjoy, what should you buy?

I’m not at the cheese counter anymore, but I still wanted to help clear up the confusion. Rather than assembling a 21-person panel of tasters to sample a selection of blue cheeses in a blind tasting, I approached this topic differently. Because blue cheese is a big category with many different styles—all of which are