Black & Blue will leave you aching for more! It is a deeply blued wheel with a black-wax rind. It is aged for 3-4 months before it leaves us. Cut into its waxed exterior and you’ll be thrilled to find a rich, dense, buttery, stark white cheese that is deeply blued throughout its interior. Its lusty taste will thrill any true-blue lover! This is cheese is a certain star on any cheese board, an ingredient in savory cuisines, or as a complement to poached fruit for dessert.

American Dairy Goat Association Cheese Competition
2009 First-Place Finisher
2008 First-Place Finisher
2007 Third-Place Finisher

Months 1-3
Black & Blue is a larger format, long ripening cheese. It is made in 4-5 pound wheels that enter our ripening room as stark-white wheels of curd. These wheels are pressed and punched to allow air to reach the center of the wheel. Within 2 weeks, the tell-tale signs of bluing appear, and the wheels are sealed in black wax to protect the cheese surface and allow the blue-mold to fully develop in the cheese body. We cut and wrap the Black & Blue wheels at 3 months old; however, the cheeses continue to ripen positively for nearly a year.

Months 4-6
The few wheels of Black & Blue that we have been able to keep in the ripening room this long are simply spectacular. The p. roqueforti mold continues its work and the cheese becomes softer and sweeter -- in texture reminiscent of a an Italian gorgonzola dolce. We look forward to to completion of our expanded creamery which will triple our ripening room space and allow us to mature Black & Blue more fully before it leaves us.

Once the wheels are cut, ripening does not stop but it does slow. Your wrapped wedge of Black & Blue will continue ripening in your fridge, but its character will not change dramatically. The taste will ripen and mature most at the center of the wheel or wedge.

Months 7-12
Unchartered territory we look forward to exploring!

Black & Blue is one of FireFly Farms most robust flavored cheeses. It can be served alone as an appetizer, cut for a cheese board, served with crackers and a savory or sweet tapenade, or used in finer cuisines where its melting character is very much like other blue cheeses.

P. roqueforti is not as oxygen sensitive as other ripening molds we use; in fact, the cheeses are waxed to prevent excess oxygen from reaching the cheese and enabling the blue to mold to grow unhindered. Once you have removed its original wrapping, you can re-wrap in cheese paper, parchment paper or wax paper. Or, you can store the partially consumed cheese in a plastic container.

Because the cheese is sealed in wax, it retails a higher moisture content. This whey moisture can sometimes be seen on the surface of a plactic-wrapped wedge. It is not harmful, but can be easily absorbed with a paper towel when the cheese is unwrapped. It can be eaten as well, and a sweetness to the the cheese body like a gorgonzola dulce.

Pasteurized goat milk
Vegetable rennet
Bacterials starter cultures (gluten-free)
Salt
Enzymes
Black-wax rind (not edible)