Stagnola Blu: Italy's Tin Foil

I needn't go further than my refrigerator for my first featured cheese. My roomate and I make a point of experimenting each week when it comes to cheese purchasing, usually choosing them haphazardly based on their funny names or strange crossbreeds. They are usually delicious, as most foods are at Trader Joe's. 


When I first opened the Stagnola Blu (stagnola=tin foil in Italian), I was a bit thrown off by the spots of pink I discovered. I've heard of blue cheese, but this seemed a bit peculiar. Special edition for the Sept. 11th anniversary? Unlikely. Regardless, I dove in. The discoloration doesn't scare me. After all, cheese is adventure. My first bite was... confusing. As your first encounter with every great cheese should be.

Oh Stagnola Blu, I hereby crown ye Cheese of the Week. *Clap*  *Clap*  *Clap*  *Clap*


Doing a little research online, I found a post about Stagnola Blu from a fellow cheese lover, whose blog I highly recommend:

Milk's Leap. A very informative blog on how to make crazy cheese.

In the post titled, "A Fungus Among Us", we find our friend attempting to make a stagnola-esque cheese. The description we are offered: a moist, creamy, green veined, bloomy rind, truly spicy blue cheese. A perfect description. My first experience was moist and creamy, but the tang crept in quickly. I didn't even consider the green veins until a close examination after I'd already consumed many morsels, but they are really strange. And I believe the phrase "bloomy rind" is referring to those little pink spots.


This cheese is truly unique, and thus the week must be too.
Heres to 7 days of moist, creamy, green veined, bloomy rind, truly spicy blue tin foil.