Blue Valley Blue

"The Art of Natural Cheesemaking" by David Asher, my motivation to have a go in my own kitchen. We regularly get raw Jersey milk from a local Missouri farmer, the cream is heavenly! So I make yoghurt nearly weekly and when I have a surplus I then strain it, once cooled, through a fine mesh cloth, and make a cream cheese. David Asher calls it 'Dream Cheese,' I'm inclined to agree.

So I'd made some cream cheese a while back and stored it in the fridge to be forgotten (you know four children, family life, stuff happens and things get forgotten, like cucumbers that liquify!). Well the next time I came to look at it there was a fine fuzz of blue mold all over its surface. I thought, "Hmm, I wonder what that smells like?" Well after inspection by my nose, I was convinced it was a mild stilton or roquefort, tasted it and thought, "Not bad!"

So the next cream cheese I made, I allowed more drainage of the whey to produce a drier consistency, formed it into a round and attempted to inoculate it using a skewer with my home grown blue mold. The results after aging for a number of weeks are beautiful. The blue mold is mostly external, and sad to say I had no success with the veining experiment. It tastes not dissimilar to a cheese from my childhood family visits to the Jura mountains of Eastern France. A cheese called Bleu de Gex.

Well, we live in an area called Blue Valley, so this creation became Blue Valley Blue. I'm the only brave one to eat it at home, I'm not complaining! Bacteria is not all bad, in fact the right kinds are beautiful and essential for gut health. Trust your nose!