Blue cheese must be my favorite food group about which to proselytize. And I mean food group in full seriousness. Anyone who either loves or hates the stuff would consider it a class unto itself, with such particular ability to polarize cheese eaters.
To me, it's the most satisfying thing to convert a non-believer. I've made suggestions before about blues to try if it's just not your thing, but never before have I felt as confident in a gateway blue as this one.
Montbriac is the best way to make anyone a believer in blue. Sure, there's Dunbarton Blue, Gorgonzola Cremificato, or Fourme D'Ambert, which are also great bunny slope blues. But Cambozola has a particular mildness that's more akin to a buttery triple creme or a brie than anything else. Even I, who loves a blue that bites you back, adore this cheese.
Cambozola is a combination of a camembert-style cheese and gorgonzola. It's like the pluot of the cheese world: a half-this and a half-that. So you'll get that great mushroomy brie quality-- and it's indeed a triple creme, as well, with added cream to the vat during cheesemaking-- plus small pockets of blue. Because the blue stays entirely contained in small specks, you can regulate your blue intake to the morsel. Perfect for intro-ing someone who may be closed off to the blue family.
There's something great about how those little pockets of blue mold, too. Texturally, it's a totally unique experience. When a pocket of blue hits your tongue, it feels nearly like a soft, velvety piece of gravel, entirely distinct from the rest of the buttery interior.
Cambozola has been around since 1900, and is actually a Bavarian cheese. I'd have thought it either French or Italian, considering its similarity to French-style bloomies and the Italian great, Gorgonzola. But it's been marketed since the 1970's by Champignon, a German company that operates out of the municipality of Lauben in Bavaria.
Sure, it's a bit of a commodity cheese, but it's a great go-to if your only option is Trader Joe's or a chain grocery store. The riper the wheel, the more oozy it becomes, like soft buttercream. Interestingly, it's considered a soft-ripened cheese, which is the family of cheeses to which all bloomy-rinded or washed rind cheeses belong. Blues, however, aren't considered soft-ripened (which just means that the cheese becomes softer as it ages); the bottom line here is that Cambozola is more brie-like than blue.
While great for the eating, Cambozola is also excellent for cooking. Because it's a factory-made cheese, it doesn't don the hefty price point of a small-production handmade cheese. You can bake it whole as you would a wheel of brie for a party (even try it en croute), serve with the last of the season's peaches and nectarines and figs, or bake into a tart shell with a custard base for a different take on a cheesy quiche. It'd be delicious in savory crepes with ham and herbs, or with apples and red pepper jelly in a panini.
It's a superb dessert cheese, too, and could easily be coupled with some sweet accoutrements to round out a dessert spread. Cheese for dessert? If that doesn't get you to stop saying eww to blue, this quest may be futile.
Nora Singley used to be a cheesemonger and the Director of Education at Murray's Cheese Shop. Until recently she was a TV Chef on The Martha Stewart Show. She is currently a freelance food stylist and private chef in New York City.
Related: Why is Blue Cheese Blue? The Cheesemonger
(Images: Nora Singley
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