Blackwater Blue
Named for the Blackwater River that runs near our farm, this creamy, full-flavored blue cheese is truly special. Made with Jersey milk, it is a relatively high fat cheese. It goes well with apples, pears and Chardonnay!
To achieve the appearance and flavor for this cheese, the curds are lightly put together. There is no pressing other than the weight of the curds. This allows the cultures that have been added to have enough space, or air-pockets to thrive. The oxygen level is low, the moisture content is high and there is little ventilation. Multiple holes are pierced into the body of the cheese at around day 10 to allow additional air circulation.
At about 30 days, a ‘trier’ is used to obtain a core sample and check for blue mold growth. You can appreciate in the picture of this cheese the large canal of blue mold growth … absolutely loving the ‘oxygen canal’ created as a result of this relatively intrusive act of sampling!