Makabi Bleu
After two years of surveying the kosher cheese scene, it takes quite a bit to get me excited about a new product. When I spied an authentic-looking French bleu in KosherItalia.com’s cheese line up a few weeks ago, however, I seized the opportunity to try it. Two days later, the 1 lb. wheel arrived at my door.
Upon unwrapping, an unpleasant odor was immediately apparent (wet dog?) as was its inconsistently moldy exterior (some patches of white fuzz). Undeterred, I wiped the wheel off, cut it in half, and then excised a wedge — nice blue streaks of mold inside, surrounded by ivory. I carved off the questionable exterior, brought the wedge to room temperature, and tasted.
Creamy texture, with slight granularity, and moderately spreadable. Bold, tangy flavor with some stale/bitter notes. On pizza, it melded well with the other flavors but still made its presence known.
By comparison, Kirkeby Danablu is sharper, but far less musty, and has far fewer offensive odors. Miller’s Blue is much milder, but more enjoyable to eat in an appreciable quantity. As a table cheese, though, the Makabi is certainly the most interesting.
In closing, I have to say I’m a bit concerned about the quality of this cheese both because of the rind’s odor and the fact that the larger interior mold “bubbles” were themselves covered with a thin layer of white mold. Perhaps the wheels were stored at too high a humidity and spoiled a bit? Or perhaps my love of cheese only goes so far?
I think you got a bad wheel. I just purchased a wedge on Sunday and it looks a lot better than your pictures and description. I find it to be superior to the Kirkeby Danablu in taste and texture. It is not granular per se (could that be because it aged, albeit prematurely?)
I had the fortune of being able to taste the cheese before purchasing, so that helped.
FWIW, Rockland Kosher Supermarket @ The Shoppers Haven in Monsey, NY has quite an impressive cheese selection. This cheese as well as many others are available for purchase by the pound. They have what they call ‘Home-Made’ gouda, as well as provolone, herbed havarti, marbled cheddar, and many other interseting cheeses. There was no one there to ask who makes these cheeses, as the guys behind the counter were not at all knowledgeable, but boy do they give nice sized samples :-)
You could buy the Makabi Saint Paulin, Mak Moli, Mak Tomi by the pound as well. I also bought a log of French goat cheese (Saint Loup), it’s not much unlike Barkanit’s Tiltan.
As the store caters to a Chassidishe crowd, all the aforementioned cheeses are Cholov Yisroel as well.
I hope you didn’t get food poisoning! It usually isn’t a good idea to just cut off the visually moldy part of cheese (or bread) because the mold has “roots” that can be in parts of the cheese that appear the the naked eye to be mold-free. I am impressed at your dedication though, you couldn’t pay me to eat something that smelled like a wet dog! ;-)
That’s the tough part of eating an interesting blue cheese — figuring out what’s good mold and what’s bad mold, or what’s a good odor and what’s a bad odor!
As for eating non-blue cheeses, it’s just fine to cut off a bit of surface mold and eat the rest. If you can share any science behind these “roots” you speak of (perhaps there’s something in McGee’s On Food and Cooking), I’m sure you’d have many interested readers.
Jabbett–My family is in the restaurant business in California and it is against the California health code for restaurants to cut off a moldy portion of cheese and use the remaining portion. The guidelines given to my family explain that the reason for this is because mold that is not visible to the naked eye is often left behind in the remaining cheese. The California health code may be over zealous, but that is where I got that info.
On the topic of cheese, does a kosher gorgonzola exist?
BS”D
Fern, you cannot get “food poisoning” from eating cheese mold. Potential acute toxicity in moldy cheese could only be caused by other things growing in the cheese aside from the mold, such as Staph S. or enteric bacteria, things which rarely affect cheese, or listeria, more common, but mainly in shrink-wrapped cheese. The mold could only be responsible for aflatoxins, which the body is able to tolerate in normal quantities, although it is a potent liver toxin (and it is not uncommon in mold-ripened cheeses in small concentration). So I’d imagine that if the health code prohibits use of moldy cheese of which the mold is removed, it is to guard against very uncommon but potential problems such as the bacteria and/or their toxins listed above.
I think the Makabi Bleu may be a Gorgonzola, after having carefully inspected its Treyf cousins.
I just puked in my mouth and ate it. I bet that tasted better than that moldy cheese!