I've Got The Blues

This past April, I wrote about a beautiful Swiss-style cheese called "Mont St. Benoit" which is produced by the monks at the Abbaye de Saint-Benoit-du-lac located in the Eastern Townships of Québec.  I thought that with the upcoming Blues Festival in Kitchener (August 5th - 8th), I would write about another of the great cheeses that come from the Abbaye - Bleu Bénédictin.  This is one of two blue cheeses that come from the Abbaye, the other being Ermite.  The difference between the two comes from the length of time that the cheese is allowed to mature in the ripening room,.  Ermite has a ripening time of 5 weeks at which time the natural rind is washed off whereas Bénédictin is allowed to mature for 5 months and the natural mould rind is kept on the cheese. 

It is perhaps helpful to understand the process that is used to make blue cheese in order to better appreciate the differences in the end product.  Blue cheese is really a form of controlled spoilage.  Early in the cheese making process, the cheese maker introduces the "Penicillium Roqueforti" spores into the milk.  Once the cheese has been formed, long, thin needles are inserted into the cheese allowing air to enter the cheese through the tunnels that are created.  The result is the growth of the familiar mould  or veining.  The mould breaks down the fats and proteins in the cheese and the longer that this process is allowed to occur, the more intense the flavour that develops and the smoother the texture of the cheese becomes.  Blue cheese because of the tunnelling, ages from the inside out, the opposite of say for example, a cheddar which ages from the outside in.

As we would expect from this understanding of the cheese making process, Bénédictin has a more pronounced flavour and a smoother, creamier texture than its younger sibling, Ermite.  In 2006, Bénédictin won the Canadian Grand Prix and is in stock at "C'est Cheese Please!" $4.85 per 100g.   Enjoy this beautiful cheese with a soupcon of Cidre Glace, also from Québec.   Cidre Glace is the fabulous Iced Cider from Pinnacle and is the perfect accompaniment to blue cheese especially a blue cheese from La Belle Province.  I guarantee it will have you singing the blues, the blue cheese blues!

Bon Appétit!