Jun 4
Cheese Day
Blue Cheese
“Well, many's the long night I've dreamed of cheese--toasted, mostly...”
~ Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, 1883
Do you too dream of a bit of cheese? Or do you believe that cheese may affect your dreams? A recent study from the British Cheese Board appears to dispel the myth that eating cheese before bed may cause nightmares, although the same study suggested that different types of cheeses may affect the content of your dreams. Blue cheese, for example, was reported to give the cheese-eater vivid and nonsensical dreams while Red Leicester was said to give one nostalgic dreams of childhood. Should you opt for the fantastical, for the true bluest of cheeses, check your labeling, because many blue cheeses such as Roquefort, Danablu, Cabrales, Gorgonzola and Blue Stilton carry a protected designation of origin, meaning they can bear the name only if they have been made in a particular region in a certain country. Should your taste for cheese venture northwards, some blue cheeses of Scottish origin include: Hebridean Blue (Isle of Mull), Biggar Blue, Strathdon Blue, Lanark Blue, Dunsyre Blue, and Blue Murder! 🧀
Blue cheeses were originally a product of the environment in which they were ripened. For example, Roquefort cheese was originally a product of the bacterial environment (Penicillium roqueforti) in the Roquefort caves where the cheese was stored. A legend of Roquefort tells of a shepherdess leaving her lunch of cheese curd and rye bread in a cave. When she returned to find it weeks later, she discovered Roquefort cheese.
The tartan, designed by Carol A.L. Martin, is a perfect textile replica of the colours of blue cheese.
For more about blue cheese, click the cheese.