How to Serve Blue Cheese

Blue cheese is made from goat or cow milk and, after it is aged, contains a blue or bluish-green color throughout the cheese. The blue color comes from injecting or mixing penicillin spores into the cheese before letting it age. As the cheese ripens, the mold turns a bluish color and the flavor intensifies, resulting in a strong, tangy flavor. Two well-known types of blue cheese are Roquefort, made in France, and Gorgonzola, made in Italy. When buying or serving blue cheese, there are several things to watch for and take into consideration.

Things You'll Need

Fresh fruit
Separate serving plate or tray

Individual cheese knife for blue cheese

Instructions

Examine blue cheese in the store carefully before you purchase it. Don't buy it if it has cracked, hard surfaces. Also, you should not see any beads of sweat or surface mold on the cheese.
Serve the blue cheese as an appetizer by adding fresh fruit, crackers or bread. Remove it from the refrigerator for up to two hours before serving. Like other cheese, blue cheese is best when served at room temperature.
Put the blue cheese on its own tray or dish away from other cheeses and make sure that it has its own knife. Blue cheese has a pungent flavor, and not everybody is a fan of it. Because the flavor is so strong, consider placing some nuts, grapes or other fruit on the serving dish beside the cheese.
Liven up salads by crumbling blue cheese on top. Other ways to serve blue cheese include stuffing burgers with it before grilling or adding crumbled blue cheese as a topping after grilling.
Toss crumbled blue cheese into sandwiches, casseroles or soups for extra zing and flavor.

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