Is Blue Cheese Gluten Free?

This is one of those questions that keeps me up at night.  Does mold, started on bread, retain evil Gluten?  Or is it like if a cow eats wheat grass and we eat the cow, it's still all cow and it's safe?  Or, like my good friend asked, "Why do you want to eat moldy cheese anyway?  Doesn't mold mean it's bad?"

Luckily, someone with more research than thought experiments has come up with some answers.  I got this from local Gluten-Intolerant-Guru Betty Barfield who got it from cookbook and newsletter author Connie Sarros. (That's a lot of explanation, but this is how you know I didn't make it up myself out of wishful thinking.)

Click here to order and learn about blue cheese.

Once again the question has been asked, "Is blue cheese gluten-free?" Blue cheese is made from penicillin roquforti which, in today's modernized world, most often produces spores in sterile fermenters (not on stale bread). According to Wikipedia, "Blue cheese is a general classification of cow's milk, sheep's milk and/or goat's milk cheeses that has had Penicilliun cultures added so that the final product is spotted or veined throughout with blue or blue-green mold. Some blue cheeses are injected with spores before the curds have been formed and others have spores mixed in with the curds before they are formed. Blue cheeses are typically aged in a temperature-controlled environment such as a cave.

The brand names that come to mind when you say 'blue cheese' are Roquefort (made in the south of France), Gorgonzola (Italy), Stilton (England), Danablu (Denmark), and America's entry, Maytag Blue Cheese. Keep in mind that, while NOT ALL blue cheeses are gluten-free, most are.

Most brands of blue cheese ARE gluten-free (but be sure to read the label each time before purchasing) A few brands that are GF:

• Cabot
• Athenos
• Clemson
• Rosenborg
• Boar's Head
• King's Choice
• Smoked Shropshire
• Les Fromages D'Ann Marie
• Whole Creamery Blue Cheese Crumbles
• Lighthouse Idaho Blue Cheese Crumbles
  

The following brands of blue cheese are NOT gluten-free:

• Sargento Blue Cheese
  
• Organic Valley Blue Cheese Crumbles

-Connie Sarros

Brazilian cheese bread Gluten-Free mix

My friend recently came back from a trip to Brazil and brought me three packages of a marvelous delicacy called Pao de Quejio by Yoki.  It actually says gluten free on the top of the bag.  It cooked up a full cookie sheet of slightly-larger-than-golf-ball-sized rolls.  It tasted sort of like if cheese nips were biscuits.  Luckily, I hadn't eaten any dinner before I made them as it soon became apparent that these would be my dinner.  I recommend making them for a dinner party unless you have really strong will power.  You can buy them online here!

Cypress Midnight Moon - Naturally Gluten-Free Cheese

OK, you might ask, what cheese isn't gluten free?  Well, there's the whole debate on Blue Cheese, which I hope to get to the bottom of.  The point is, this isn't just any cheese, it's my favorite cheese and it happens to be made from goat's milk - although it doesn't have any unpleasant tanginess - sorry, if I offend the goat-milk-cheese fans. 

In the Gluten Free diet it can be a challenge to find something tasty and not horrible for you.  Goat cheese is reportedly better for you than cow cheese.  No matter the health pros or cons, Cypress Grove's Midnight Moon is a cheese worth checking out.  I also like their cheddar.

You can order it online or buy it locally at Central Market in Fort Worth and Southlake or Market Street in Colleyville.  It might be available elsewhere, but these are places I've found it.