This Mold's Fur Real: Cheese Mold in Bloom The Cheesemonger

Nope, this picture isn't out of focus, the cheese is truly as fuzzy as it looks. The French call it cat fur, or poil de chat. And for good reason, as the mold on this particular family of cheese is pretty reminiscent of the coat of your furry friend. But don't fear: it's a mold that belongs to one of the most coveted types of cheese, and without it, there would be many sad cheese lovers, indeed.

This phenomenon-- essentially the literal blooming of mold spores-- is unique solely to the bloomy rinded family of cheese. The most common bloomy mold is called penicilium candidum, or p. candidum for short. Brie, camembert, humboldt fog, and some of the other great creamy, spreadable cheeses with those white fluffy rinds belong to this cheese category.

When this style of cheese ripens, mold activity takes place on the rind of the cheese. Mold spores literally bloom, becoming fuzzy and soft, like cat fur.

To the untrained eye, this mold would seem eerily similar to that unfavorable grey mold we've all seen in a forgotten pint of sour cream in the back of the fridge, or an undecipherable item from long ago in a tupperware container.

But this mold is not bad mold. In fact, it's natural, and moreover, it's vital to this style of cheese. In short, it makes brie brie.

So why don't you see cheese with such pronounced, unapologetically fuzzy rinds in your cheese store? To promote an even and proper rind development, an affineur, the technical term for someone who ages cheese, will pat down the mold growth with his fingers until the cheese is ready for sale, with a fully developed rind. By the time a bloomy rinded cheese is ready for market, the growth of mold on its rind may have been patted down dozens of times.

So whatever you call this mold-- bloomy, fuzzy, furry, or something in a foreign language, embrace it. It's something you should fur sure learn to love.

Nora Singley is an avid lover of cheese, and for some time she was a Cheesemonger and the Director of Education at Murray's Cheese Shop in New York City, where she continues to teach cheese classes for the public. She is currently an assistant chef on The Martha Stewart Show.

(Image: Mindy's Recipe For Disaster)

Comments (12)

Ugh, that may have just put me off brie O_o

I have four rounds of camembert I started two weeks ago that have this wonderfully billowy, snow-drifty white mold forming right now. I thought that most of the "furryness" disappeared when the cheeses were wrapped following full rind development, but I guess it makes sense that some of the higher-end cheeses would have the mold hand-rubbed away.

Also a question: I thought "poil de chat" was typically used in reference to mucor (an undesireable, greyish-black mold) - I've never heard of the the p. candidum formation referred to this way.

Whatever the official nomenclature, thank god for the brave souls who first tried this delicious creation and figured out how to make it on purpose :)

And now I'm officially grossed out. Healthy mold or not, that's the kind of info I don't want to know about my food.

tech-ette: there are lots of foods that you probably eat that are, at some point, purposefully allowed to grow a covering of mold.

High-end aged steaks? Yup, that cow carcass was covered in mold at some point as it aged (if it was properly aged), and then the mold was scraped off. (Jeffrey Steingarten has a wonderfully informative article about aging steaks, and the pros and cons of wet-aging vs. dry-aging).

Bleu cheese has blue/green veins because of mold spores that form within the cheese.

And if that grosses you out, you should check out what the FDA okays to be slipped into your "safe" pre-packaged peanut butter, etc... How many insect parts are allowed per X oz., etc. The food you eat isn't pristine, and if you let it bother you, you'll starve to death.

Hooray for mold! These are my favorite kinds of cheeses.

Being grossed out by this is a little like being grossed out that your steak came from a dead cow. All sorts of molds and microbes are used to make our food, and have been for thousands of years.

Besides, this mold is pretty closely related to the mold that's used to make Penicillin. Do you get grossed out every time you take an antibiotic?

Maybe I'm weird, but I think the fuzziness is cute. haha

Love that Humboldt Fog.

I love that photograph and think that fuzzy mold looks like it would be super fun to pat down! And I still think these cheese are delicious.

Those grossed out by this probably wouldn't do well to think about things like beer or wine either...or mushrooms or miso or cured sausages or even some bacons.

They look like littel pillows!

When you make cheese yourself, that lovely white mold is delightful, not gross... because if you're anything like me, you've been peeking under the wrappings every day for a week to check and see if it's started to grow yet!

And yes, "poil de chat" refers to the bad (bad, very bad!) black fur that grows on cheeses (which really does resemble hair, not like the fluffy white mold in the healthy cheese photos above). A Google search turns up all kinds of nasty examples. Eeeyuck.

Makes me think of the hairy tofu A. Bourdain ate in China. It looked so off-putting, but he said it was good...

It scares me that so many people are unaware of this. Common sense people, use your heads!

Thanks so much for this post! I just opened a package of camembert with this white fuzz on top and was afraid it had gone bad. It tastes delicious though! :)