FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
There are many different ways to enjoy cheese. Our cheese varieties go well with both beer and wine - there are lots of exciting combinations. If you are looking for tips on cooking with cheese, you will find many suggestions here, no matter if you are planning cold or hot dishes, simple or festive occasions.
If you cannot find the answer to your question, please write us an e-mail. Our qualified cheese sommelière will be pleased to help you: e-mail.
- Cheese and wine are supposed to be a fantastic combination. Can you help me find the right wine for my cheese? Answer
- I want to offer a cheese buffet to my guests. Can you give me a few tips? Answer
- I love blue cheese! Can you give me a few hints on how to use it and what to combine it with? Answer
- Mould is supposedly detrimental to your health. Does this apply to mould in cheese as well? Answer
- How do I best store cheese to keep it fresh and tasty for a long time? Answer
- What do the abbreviations on the packaging mean? Answer
- Can I put cheese in the freezer? Answer
- I bought a red smear cheese. Can you explain what red smear is? Answer
- I love mould cheese, but it moistens a lot. Is this normal or is there something wrong with the cheese? Answer
- How does the blue mould get into the cheese? Answer
- What do I need to keep in mind when heating cheese? Answer
Here are the answers to your questions:
Cheese and wine - a perfect combination
You don’t have to travel abroad to take a holiday. What about staying in, relaxing in your favourite chair, cuddling up with your partner and going on a culinary journey instead? There is a whole world of cheese and wine waiting to be discovered. However, not every cheese goes well with every wine, so here are some guidelines to help you choose the right combination.
Mild and delicate cheeses go well with mild wines, strong and hearty cheeses harmonise with full-bodied and spicy wines. A red smear cheese like Bergader Mini brie “red & creamy” goes well with a strong red wine, a Côte du Rhône or Cabernet, for example. Fresh cheese varieties, like Bergader Mini brie “Yogurt” or soft cheese in brine, work best with fruity reds - such as simple young Chianti or Beaujolais Nouveau. Those wines are also perfect with (full-fat) cream cheeses.
White should be your colour of choice if you are looking for a wine to match soft cheeses. However, there are subtle differences between the various types. Mild varieties with white mould go well with wines that contain sufficient acid and little alcohol (Silvaner or Riesling).
If you are looking for a match for the spicy Edelpilz cheese, you should try a full-bodied red wine from the Mediterranean, such as Bordeaux or Rioja. Some connoisseurs also appreciate port. An extraordinary and exciting combination is creamy blue cheese, such as Bavaria blu, with dry champagne.
How do I arrange a cheese buffet?
A classic cheese buffet features hard and semi-hard cheeses as well as a variety of white soft cheeses and blue cheeses. You might want to serve a light to medium red wine to go with the cheese buffet. A good choice would be a German Pinot Noir complemented by French table wine.
A small gathering or an evening for two is the perfect occasion to try something a bit more daring. Why don’t you offer a selection of different blue cheeses: Bergader Edelpilz and Bavaria blu. This combination goes well with a medium-dry Pinot Noir.
No matter how big or small the party is - you need to calculate about 180-200g of cheese per person. Finally, you need to remember that cheese, like good wine, needs to be stored at the right temperature to develop its flavour - between 15 °C and 20 °C. Ripe cheeses need warmer temperatures than young ones.
Take the cheeses out of the fridge about 30 minutes to one hour before consumption to let them adapt to room temperature.
Tips and tricks on how to make cold and hot dishes using blue cheese:
Cheese needs to be in good company. This is particularly true for blue cheeses, such as Bergader Edelpilz. There is a great variety of possible combinations - a delight for any gourmet.
- Sweet and salty flavours harmonise perfectly! Sweet fruit dips are an excellent addition to blue cheeses. Cheese is a gorgeous treat with honey, fig mustard, apricot or strawberry jam, elder jelly or fruits pickled in rum.
- Pears are a good match for blue cheese as well. Cut one or more pears into small cubes and sweat them in a pan along with some caramel. Deglaze them with some white wine, add sugar, a strip of untreated lemon peel and a ginger slice. Let everything simmer for a couple of minutes until the pears are soft. Then add a few drops of lemon juice and season with freshly ground black pepper.
- Melt blue cheese in milk for an extraordinary omelette, use it as a filling for dumplings, meat, vegetables or puff pastry. You can also use blue cheese to season gravy, soups and dressings. Cut into small cubes, blue cheese adds that certain something to a salad - and not only to green salad but to fruit salad as well.
- You can also use Bavaria blu to refine a simple meal of scrambled eggs. Just add the cheese shortly before the eggs are ready.
Cultured Moulds are Completely Harmless
As a rule, mouldy food should not be consumed. Cutting off the mouldy parts of bread or hard cheese, for example, is not a good idea, either, as aflatoxin can penetrate the entire product and persist even if it is not visible to the naked eye.
How can mould be prevented? Mould grows best when it's moist and warm. The higher the water content of the food and the warmer the outside temperature, the higher the risk. Bread that has been baked long enough and has a solid crust is less at risk than white bread or bread made from wheat or rye flower. If it is very hot and humid, it might be a good idea to store bread in the fridge for a short time. In this case, the bread should be wrapped well. Bread boxes and slicers should be cleaned thoroughly with a solution of vinegar and water at least once a week.
Less caution is required with jam containing a lot of sugar. Usually it is sufficient to remove the mouldy parts generously.
While mould is rightly feared in some foods, it is popular among connoisseurs and gourmets in a number of mould-cheese types. These are based on so-called mould cultures, which are grown specifically for cheese production and are completely harmless.
There are different types of mould cheeses:
- Cheese with exterior mould, such as Bergader Mini brie or Bergader Cremosissimo. These types are produced with the cultivated moulds penicillium camemberti or penicillium candidum. Their flavour is soft and reminiscent of mushrooms, while the colour of the mould is white.
- Cheese with interior mould, such as the blue cheese Bergader Edelpilz. These type has a distinct spicy taste produced by the cultivated mould penicillium roqueforti. Blue mould has a blue-green colour and can thus easily be distinguished from other moulds.
- Cheese with both exterior and interior mould, such as Bavaria blu. These types are creamy, soft and at the same time full-bodied.
When cheese with exterior and interior mould is freshly cut, the white exterior mould sometimes “grows” into the cut surface. This is a natural process that in no way hampers the quality or the taste of the cheese.
Mould in food can take up different forms, not all of which are bad for the consumer. Cheese can be stored for a long time if it is kept, well-wrapped, in the fridge. Take it out about one hour before consumption to let it develop its full flavour.
How to store cheese
Temperature and humidity are the two key factors for storing cheese. The quality of cheese can suffer considerably if stored at the wrong temperature. If it is too warm, the cheese may develop a bitter taste due to increased growth of bacteria. Frequently changing temperatures are also detrimental to quality. Ideal storage temperatures range from +2°C to +7°C. Prior to consumption you should take the cheese out of the fridge and leave it at room temperature (18-20°C) for about an hour.
Different cheese types require different packaging material. Hard cheese varieties are best kept in an earthenware pot, semi-hard or soft cheese varieties, such as Bianco or Bergader Mini brie, should be stored in a cheese box as long as it is not hermetically sealed.
In order to prevent the cheese’s texture from changing, be sure to protect the cut surface to prevent it from drying out. Nevertheless, the cheese also needs enough oxygen to be able to “breathe”. To this end, you can wrap Edelpilz in aluminium foil that has been perforated with a needle (do not use this technique with soft cheeses, though).
You should always store blue cheese separately in order to prevent the spores from infecting other cheeses. For short-time storage you can also use a cheese cover, as long as some air reaches the inside. If your cover is not permeable, you can use a simple trick to help your cheese breathe: Just place a toothpick or kitchen cloth under the edge of the cover.
Cheese abbreviations
Cheese is one of the few foods that do not contain any hidden ingredients. However, there are two cryptic terms: w.f.f. and “Fat in the dry matter”. These terms have been created to establish an internationally valid definition of a cheese’s fat content. They tend to puzzle consumers, though.
The terms “water fat free” (w.f.f.) and “Fat in the dry matter” (F.i.d.m.) provide information about consistency, quality and the taste of a cheese. W.f.f. tells consumers how much water the fat-free matter of the cheese contains. The ratio of dry matter to water content in a cheese determines its consistency – whether it is soft or hard. The key factor is the relation of dry matter to the water content. The dry matter is basically a cheese with all water removed - leaving behind fat, protein, milk sugar, lactic acid, salts, vitamins and enzymes. The higher the percentage of dry matter, the harder the cheese will be. Accordingly, the cheese gets softer the higher the percentage of water is.
In Germany, however, w.f.f. is not printed on the packaging. Instead, the term “fat in the dry matter” is commonly used. In Germany, w.f.f. is therefore a term relevant to producers only.
It is important to know that milk fat is a flavour carrier and the main reason why cheeses, such as Bergader Mini brie or Bergader Cremosissimo, literally just melt in the mouth.
F.i.d.m. is where the flavour is
While w.f.f. tells consumers, which cheese group the cheese belongs to, f.i.d.m. informs about the cheese’s flavour. After all, the higher the fat content, the smoother and more delicate the cheese mass.
Since the 19th century, cheese makers have been legally obliged to indicate the f.i.d.m. value on the packaging. Back then, it was already well known that water evaporates during the ripening process. Accordingly, the content of dry mass and thus fat increases as the cheese ages, while the fat content as a percentage of dry mass stays almost the same. The f.i.d.m. value is thus a sound basis for calculating the absolute fat content, which relates to the total weight of the cheese and is therefore much smaller. It amounts to around half of the f.i.d.m. value – and only one-fifth in cream cheese.
As fat is a “flavour carrier”, consumers can use the fat content information to draw conclusions about the cheese’s aroma. This is particularly useful when buying Camemberts and Bries, as these are available with different fat-content levels. While at 30%, these cheeses have a rather tough cheese mass and a rather inconspicuous taste, cheeses with 45% are markedly smoother and more full-flavoured. In Germany, customary soft cheeses, such as Bergader Cremosissimo, belong to the “Doppelrahmstufe” group, containing 70% f.i.d.m. The mass in these cheeses is creamy and soft, allowing the aroma to literally “melt in the mouth”. Soft cheeses, such as Bavaria blu and Bergader Mini brie, have an absolute fat content amounting to a little more than half of the f.i.d.m. value.
You can find a categorisation of different cheeses according to their fat contents in our cheese encyclopaedia.
How to freeze cheese
Generally, we do advise against freezing cheese. Normal freezers cannot freeze the cheese fast enough, which inevitably results in a loss of quality and flavour.
The only exception is grated cheese to be used on pizza or gratins.
You should never freeze soft cheese, as it loses its flavour and tastes watery afterwards.
What is “red smear”?
The first mould cheeses were produced in France. They were small, watery and rather perishable, which was not much of a problem since they were only distributed locally.
Cheeses that ripened in a cellar could be softer and contain more water. This way, more cheese could be gained from the milk.
During ripening in the damp cellars, a reddish-yellow smear developed on the cheese. People soon realised that this smear provided natural protection against undesirable and harmful moulds. As a result, this cheese-making method became very popular.
Today, red smear is cultivated and usually consists of different bacteria, fungi and yeasts.
A bacterium, Brevibacterium linens, is responsible for the cheese’s aroma, colour and ripening. It is assumed that the yeasts neutralise the surface of the cheese, thus providing ideal conditions for the brevibacterium to grow.
Is it normal that Bergader Edelpilz moistens?
The moistening of Bergader Edelpilz is typical for blue cheeses and does not reduce their quality. Blue cheeses are best stored wrapped in aluminium foil in the fridge. If the foil is punctured with a fork or a needle, the cheese gets enough oxygen and stays fresh for a long time.
How does the blue mould get into the cheese?
The blue cheese cultures we use at Bergader are cultivated in a laboratory specifically for our purposes. They are added to the milk at the beginning of the production process. Mould can only grow inside a cheese if there is sufficient oxygen supply. To this end, the cheese gets pierced with thin needles, so the blue mould can grow into the cheese. Bavaria blu is additionally soaked with white mould to provide for white mould growing on the outside and blue mould developing inside the cheese.
Temperatures for heating cheese
Experienced chefs add cheese towards the end of the cooking time. Important ingredients, such as vitamins, can better be preserved if the heating time is kept as short as possible. We recommend heating cheese slowly (when making soups or sauces, for example) and never allowing it to boil.