Whether it’s a crumbly Stilton or a creamy Gorgonzola, any foodie knows that a cheese board isn’t complete without a blue cheese.
But these classic varieties could look very different in the future.
Scientists at the University of Nottingham have devised a way to create different colored blue cheese.
Despite looking quite outlandish, these Technicolor versions taste just like the real thing, according to Dr. Paul Dyer, who led the project.
“I think eating these new cheeses will give people a really satisfying sensory experience and hopefully it could bring new people to the market,” Dr Dyer said.
Scientists at the University of Nottingham have devised a way to create different colors of blue cheese.
While blue cheeses from different countries around the world can look and taste very different, they are all made from the same fungus: Penicillium roqueforti.
As the fungus grows, the pigmented spores grow through the cheeses, giving them both their blue color and flavor.
However, until now it was unclear how this blue pigment is produced.
In their new studio, the team They discovered that a biochemical pathway gradually forms blue pigments, starting with a white color, which progressively becomes greenish-yellow, pinkish-brown red, dark brown, light blue and finally dark greenish-blue.
Using food-safe techniques, the team was able to “block” this pathway at certain points, creating strains with new colors.
“We have been interested in cheese fungi for over ten years and traditionally, when developing mould-ripened cheeses, you get blue cheeses such as Stilton, Roquefort and Gorgonzola, which use fixed strains of blue-green fungi” said Dr. Said Dyer.
‘We wanted to see if we could develop new strains with new flavors and appearances.
“The way we did it was to induce sexual reproduction in the fungus, so for the first time we were able to generate a wide range of strains that had novel flavors, including new and attractive, smooth and intense flavors.
In their new study, the team discovered that a biochemical pathway gradually forms the blue pigments, starting with a white color, which progressively turns to greenish-yellow, pinkish-brown red, dark brown, light blue and finally dark greenish-blue.
Once the team produced the cheese with the new colored strains, they used laboratory diagnostic instruments to see what the flavor would be like.
“Then we created new color versions of some of these new strains.”
While the new color versions looked impressive, one key question remained: what did they taste like?
Once the team produced the cheese with the new colored strains, they used laboratory diagnostic instruments to see what the flavor would be like.
“We found that the flavor was very similar to the original blue strains from which they were derived,” Dr. Dyer said.
“There were subtle differences, but not many.”
Volunteers from across the university tasted the cheeses, revealing some interesting impacts of the different colors.
Volunteers from across the university tasted the cheese, revealing some interesting impacts of the different colors.
“We found that when people tried the lighter-colored strains they thought they had a milder flavor,” Dr. Dyer said.
‘Whereas they thought the darker strain had a more intense flavour.
‘Similarly, with the redder brown and the light green, people thought they had a sour, fruity element, whereas, according to laboratory instruments, they tasted very similar.
“This shows that people perceive flavor not only by what they taste but also by what they see.”
The team will now look to work with cheesemakers in Scotland and Nottinghamshire to create new colored varieties of blue cheese.