We try a YELLOW Blue Cheese!! (Shropshire Blue) - #81

On this episode we eat Shropshire Blue, a weird looking YELLOW blue cheese! And no it's not scared, it's actually yellow! It might be the color of a no.2 pencil but that doesn't mean it cant be No. 1!! So find out what Joe rats the cheese on this super MOLDY but super GOLDY episode of the Cheese Show!

**Now you can try this cheese for 15% OFF!! Just go to https://murrays-cheese.pxf.io/ZQEBaq and use the promo code CHEESESHOW at checkout!**

The Olivia and Joe Cheese Show is a weekly talk show where we try a new cheese every week. Historical, international, favorites to cheap bodega finds, we'll try anything! If you're a foodie who likes to laugh, you'll love the Cheese Show! More information about this week's cheese below:

Country - Nottinghamshire, England
Milk Type - Cow
Pasteurization - Pasteurized
Rennet Type - Microbial
Age - 8 Months

Shropshire Blue is very similar to another blue cheese, Stilton! One difference between the two is that Shropshire curds are hand-ladled before draining, which treats the curd more gently and preserves its structure, resulting in a luscious, creamy texture when the cheeses are mature. But the obvious thing that sets Shropshire apart is, of course, its color!! A natural, vegetable food coloring called, annatto, is added! Annatto is a bit spicy if you add enough of it, but it’s mostly used for the color. It’s even used in makeup and lipstick in Central and South America! You might recognize that bright orange color from another popular cheese...cheddar! Cheddar is colored with annatto as well as any other cheese that same orange color.

There’s a few reasons why a cheese might be colored with annatto. Typically, cheeses are white (like goat cheese or buffalo cheese) to creamy/yellowish (like an aged parmesan). Some cheesemakers started using annatto simply to make their cheese stand out! Or it could be used for consistency; depending on what time of year the animals are grazing, they are eating different foods like grass versus hay. These changes in their diet can affect the color of the cheese! Some cheesemakers started coloring their cheese with annatto so the cheese would always look the same to return customers. That’s nice of them… although there’s another theory why annatto was introduced to cheese and it’s not as consumer friendly. Rumor has it that annatto was initially introduced to cheese by cheesemakers trying to trick their customers! Cheese made with high-quality milk from cows that have been grazing on fresh grass tend to have a notably yellow hue to them (the large fat globules in cows' milk are able to retain the beta carotene in green grass). The theory is that some farmers decided to introduce annatto as a way of attaining the yellow-ish color while feeding their cows things other than fresh grass. Once introduced, annatto may then have taken off as people gradually kept one-upping themselves, making the cheeses oranger and oranger until it became more of an aesthetic statement than a deliberate effort to disguise the quality of the milk used to make the cheese.


Pairing Suggestions: The cheese is a bit sweet and very creamy, so try it with a tart jam like blueberry, or dried figs! A peppery Pinot Noir will help balance out the cheese’s large flavors. Or you can’t go wrong with a sweet Riesling. That’ll be sure to contrast the funkiness of the blue.

If You Can’t Find This Cheese: Grab a Stilton instead. It will pair similarly, though it won’t be as creamy and rich.

If you like this cheese, let us know below! What do you like to pair with this cheese? How would you describe the way this cheese tastes? What are your favorite cheeses?

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