The Aroma Of Blue Cheese: A Guide To Its Unique Smell

Blue cheese should have a pungent smell that is comparable to ammonia. It should have greenish-blue veins and a body that is cream to white in color.

Pungent

Blue cheese is supposed to be pungent, with a smell that first hits you when you peel back the plastic that is comparable to ammonia. If the smell is musty, rancid, or ammoniated, or it develops a pinkish hue, then it is no longer palatable for consumption.

Jill Giacomini Basch, co-owner of California's famed Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company & The Fork, says that blue cheese should have greenish-blue veins and a body that’s cream to white in color.

Reddit users have also commented on the smell of blue cheese, with one saying that it tastes like cheese and is fine, but is just worried about the smell.

Carie Wagner, one of Wisconsin’s elite master cheesemakers, says that good blue cheese should have greenish-blue veins and a body that’s cream to white in color.

Reddit users have also commented on the smell of blue cheese, with one saying that it tastes like cheese and is fine, but is just worried about the smell.

Ammoniated

Jill Giacomini Basch, co-owner of California's famed Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company & The Fork, says that blue cheese should have a pungent smell that is comparable to ammonia. This is because blue cheese is supposed to smell a bit like ammonia.

If you peel back the plastic of a desirable hunk of blue cheese, the first smell that hits you should be comparable to ammonia. This is because good blue cheese should have greenish-blue veins and a body that’s cream to white in color.

However, if the smell that first hits you when you peel back the plastic is musty, rancid, or ammoniated, or it develops a pinkish hue, then the blue cheese has gone to the dark side. This is because blue cheese can let you know if it's no longer palatable for consumption if it has become dry and hard.

Therefore, if you peel back the plastic of a desirable hunk of blue cheese, the first smell that hits you should be comparable to ammonia. This is because good blue cheese should have greenish-blue veins and a body that’s cream to white in color.

If you peel back the plastic of a desirable hunk of blue cheese, the first smell that hits you should be comparable to ammonia. This is because good blue cheese should have greenish-blue veins and a body that’s cream to white in color.

Rancid

Jill Giacomini Basch, co-owner of California's famed Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company & The Fork, says that blue cheese should smell musty, rancid, or ammoniated.

Blue cheese is supposed to be pungent and if the smell that first hits you when you peel back the plastic is comparable to ammonia, that’s not a bad thing.

Bad smells and pink hues are indicators that the blue cheese has gone to the dark side.

If it tastes or smells like something you wouldn't want to eat, don't eat it.

Musty

Jill Giacomini Basch, co-owner of California's famed Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company & The Fork, says that blue cheese should smell musty, rancid, or ammoniated.

If you're worried about the smell, go with your gut. If it tastes or smells like something you wouldn't want to eat, don't eat it.

Carie Wagner, one of Wisconsin’s elite master cheesemakers, says that good blue cheese should have greenish-blue veins and a body that’s cream to white in color.

Blue cheese is also supposed to be pungent—if the smell that first hits you when you peel back the plastic is comparable to ammonia, that’s not a bad thing.

Jill Giacomini Basch also points to bad smells and pink hues as indicators that the blue cheese has gone to the dark side.

Like cow shit

Blue cheese is supposed to be pungent and smell like ammonia. It is also supposed to smell a bit like cow shit.

Jill Giacomini Basch, co-owner of California's famed Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company & The Fork, says that blue cheese should not smell musty, rancid, or ammoniated.

If you are concerned about the smell of blue cheese, you should go with your gut. If it smells like something you wouldn't want to eat, don't eat it.

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