Tasty or Toxic? The Truth About Mold in Cheese
It's a well-known fact that if you find food that has mold growing on it, you should throw it away.
But for some foods, like certain types of cheese, mold is intentionally added to them, to change the texture or make them taste better.
So why is it OK to eat some moldy foods but not others?
Well, it's all about the type of mold. There are millions of mold types — some can be harmful to people, but many are safe, including the mold that's used in moldy cheeses.
There are two main types of moldy cheeses. Blue-mold cheeses, such as Stilton, Roquefort and Gorgonzola, have a mold called Penicillium roqueforti.
This mold is mixed into the milk curds that are used to make the cheese. It grows inside the cheese, turning blue and giving it a strong flavor.
White-mold cheeses, like brie or Camembert, have a different mold, called Penicillium camemberti.
This mold is added after the cheese has been made, and grows on the cheese's surface, forming a rind.
Both molds affect the cheese using enzymes. In white-mold cheeses, this makes the cheese nice and creamy. Blue cheeses, with mold throughout, are more crumbly.
According to legend, blue cheese was first discovered in Roquefort, France. A shepherd left some half-eaten bread and cheese in a cave by accident.
Several months later, when he returned to the cave, the bread was covered in mold, and this mold had also turned the cheese into blue cheese.
But even though the discovery of blue cheese may have been a happy accident, this doesn't mean all moldy cheese is safe to eat. For example, blue mold on cheese like cheddar is probably harmful.
But Heather Hallen-Adams from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln says cheese with unwanted mold growing on it can still be eaten — as long as you cut off roughly a centimeter behind the growing front of the mold first.
