Green cheese

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A young cheese (i.e. one that has only been matured for a short time) is sometimes described as green.

Green cheese is also the name applied to several varieties of cheese distinguished by their green colour. These include

  • Basiron Pesto a grass-coloured Dutch Gouda with added Pesto to give it a deep green colour.
  • Sage Derby cheese
  • Green Thunder A variety of cheddar with herbs and chives, sealed in green wax. The colour is a pale greenish-yellow.
  • A Frisian cheese made from low-fat milk flavoured with parsley. It has been immortalised in the Frisian shibboleth "BĂ»ter en brea en griene tsiis, hwa't dat net sizze kin is gjin oprjuchte Frys." ("Butter and bread and green cheese, who can't say that is no true Frisian.")
  • Vermont sage cheese
  • Schabziger (Swiss green cheese)
  • Dolce verde (literally "sweet green"), an Italian cheese

There are many other cheeses which are wholly or partly green in colour due to the addition of herbs.

Production of Texel sheep cheese, which acquired both its green colour and its distinctive flavour by the addition of an infusion of sheep droppings to the milk, was forbidden on health grounds by the Dutch Keuringsdienst van Waren (Inspectorate for Health Protection and Veterinary Public Health) in the 1930s.

The veins of most so-called blue cheeses, such as gorgonzola, roquefort or stilton, are in fact green.

It is sometimes fancifully claimed that the Moon is made of green cheese.