Shropshire Blue Cheese

Six years ago I did a post on Shropshire Blue cheese. In short, it is made in England by the same cheese makers and by the same process as Blue Stilton, but it has added annatto that colors it orange, makes it creamier and also milder than Blue Stilton. 

Recently I was at the office of Cheese of the Month Club and saw a wheel of Shropshire Blue, saw the wheel cut into portions and then got to take some home with me. I have not seen many wheels of cheese and seeing a cheese I love in such a large quantity was really fun. I have to say that Shropshire Blue is some of my favorite cheese, blue or otherwise. First, the orange cheese and blue veining are very distinctive, it just looks interesting and cool. Second, it is more solid than Roquefort, another favorite of mine, but softer than Blue Stilton, and the flavor is just about perfect. It is not overpowering, like Roquefort can be, and it is not as strong as Blue Stilton either, but it still has a very distinctive and strong blue taste. 

I have been into cheese sandwiches recently, and made one with the Shropshire Blue. I was using the heels of the bread, not my favorite part, but it turned out to be one of my best cheese sandwiches. I put mayonnaise on both slices of bread, liberally place on sliced sweet onion, put on sliced avocado and sliced tomato, a thin slice of Shropshire Blue to cover the sandwich, a little bit of olive oil, some red leaf lettuce and some salt and pepper. I gave Judy a bite and she came back for more. The cheese gave it a nice strong, but not overpowering flavor.  

I also tried it on a salad. Instead of sliced up like I normally would use it, I put some in a bowl with olive oil and chipotle mayonnaise and mixed it together for my dressing. I added sliced sweet onion, tomatoes, avocado and red leaf lettuce, basically the same ingredients that were on my sandwich, and mixed in the dressing. I love that combination of flavors. It was not as strong as some commercial blue cheese dressings, but it was flavorful