Bella Adams
Cheese with mold can be hard or soft, but it is made mainly from the fattest cow’s milk, and some varieties are made from goat and sheep milk. But what is the manufacturing process?
There are several types of cheese with mold.
The first type includes cheeses with a white moldy rind. The most famous of these is Camembert and Brie. To make these cheeses, milk is curdled and then salted. This cheese ripens in cellars where penicillin fungi live – all the walls are covered with them, and they are called “noble mold”. In mature cheese, this fluffy mold covers the entire rind.
The next type is blue mold cheeses, or rather, cheeses with blue mold, which is also noble. On a slice of this cheese, we see many greenish-blue blotches, and the most famous varieties are Roquefort, Ferme d’Ambert, Gorgonzola, and Blais de Coss.
The created milk is put into a special mold; when the whey drains, the cheese is rubbed with salt and a certain strain of fungus is introduced. To do this, special metal needles are stuck into the resulting cheese mass to help the mold spread better, and the cheese is placed in a well-ventilated place for aging.
There are other types of mold cheeses – they are called a red mold or spicy cheeses. During the ripening process, this type of cheese is washed with a special brine to prevent the formation of ordinary mold. Then the cheese is treated with special fungal cultures, which make the cheese rind red, burgundy, orange or yellow. Cheese is distinguished by the color of the rinds.
All types and varieties of mold cheeses are united by their production technology: they are processed with strains of different penicillin fungi.
How to store moldy cheese
The air temperature should be no lower than 0 and no higher than 5°C, and the humidity should be 90%. It is better to store cheese not in the refrigerator, but in a special cabinet, if possible. The flow of fresh air should be constant, and the cheese should not be exposed to light.
It is best to store cheese with mold in the shell in which it was purchased, and always cover the cut, otherwise, the fungus will begin to grow. In general, soft cheese should not be stored in plastic wrap or bags: wrap it in wax paper.
Healthy properties of cheese with mold
Whether cheese with mold is healthy depends on the specifics of its creation. If the mold was added to the product on purpose, and all storage conditions were met during this process, the benefits of moldy cheese will be significant.
It not only contains a large amount of calcium but also allows this component to be well absorbed by the body.
- When eating such a product, the body produces more melanin, so it improves skin protection from ultraviolet radiation, preventing it from penetrating the skin.
- Even a small piece of cheese with mold will allow your body to get the necessary protein, which helps to strengthen and grow muscles.
- Penicillium cheese fungi contribute to better digestion of food in the intestines and prevent fermentation.
- These cheeses also contain the amino acids histidine and valine, which allow damaged tissues and organs to recover faster. They are not produced by the body itself, so we recommend adding mold cheese to your diet.
Harmful effects of moldy cheese on the body
Cheese with mold can be harmful in the following cases:
- Such cheeses should not be consumed by those who are allergic to penicillin. There is a possibility of a severe allergic reaction.
- Cheeses with mold contain a fairly large amount of allergens, so pregnant women and small children, even those who have not been allergic before, should not eat these types of cheeses.
- For a healthy person, the permissible rate of cheese with mold is no more than 50 grams per day. This cheese is quite high in calories. But if you take into account the cost and exclusivity of noble cheeses, then 50 grams per day is quite expensive. But on a festive table, as a delicacy, cheese with noble mold can be very appropriate.
