• Question: According to my uncle, they use metalto make blue cheese. Is that true?

    Asked by davidtennant to Duncan, Grant, Julie, Nik, Rachel on 13 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Grant Campbell

      Grant Campbell answered on 13 Mar 2013:

      The blue veins in blue cheese are from a type of mold called Penicillium (the same mold family that we get penicillin from). When blue cheeses were first made, over 1000 years ago, they didn’t know about molds and called the blue veins “aerugo” which is Latin for “the rust of copper”, as copper when it tarnishes goes bluey-green (McGee, page 38). That might be where the idea that metal is used in blue cheese comes from.

    • Photo: Julie Bland

      Julie Bland answered on 14 Mar 2013:

      Grant is right, the law is specific about what can be used to make cheese ( milk, bacteria, enzyme, salt and sometimes fruit, herbs or spices) but no metal!

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