Today I learned to give moldy cheese and Ugli fruit a chance.

I had plans to learn how to make an origami crane today. It’s something I’ve always wanted to learn how to do, but just never got around to it. But after spending so much time tinkering on the blog yesterday, I had to catch up on some housework and do a little grocery shopping. Ok, a lot of grocery shopping. (I had cheese and crackers for breakfast so the kids could have the last of the milk with their cereal.) The day flew by with all the tidying I had to catch up on, and it was late afternoon before I got to the grocery store. And when we got to the store, today’s lesson was waiting there.

Right inside the store, Waybums shuddered and pointed, making her “blech” face:

“Mother! What is THaT?”

That sticker can’t be good for a fruit’s self-esteem.

It was an interesting find, since I had learned about these during preparations for my mango lesson. I took pity on the fruit and its sticker of shame and came to its defense.

“It’s called an Ugli fruit. But I hear it’s really pretty tasty.”

“It doesn’t look tasty.”

“Well, looks can be deceiving. Just like with people, it’s what’s on the inside that matters.”

Patting myself on the back for my lesson in non-judgment, I went back to the dairy section. I scanned over the various types of cheese, thinking how cool it had been to learn how to make cheese, when I saw The Blue Cheese. I looked at it, warily. It challenged me. Just last week I had posted my lofty standards. "No fuzz." But wasn’t one of the main reasons I started this blog to stretch myself? To learn about and experience new things? I've tried octopus, for goodness sake. Is moldy cheese really that big of a deal? *shudder*

I picked up the cheese and deposited it in the cart next to my Ugli fruit, realizing my new lesson for the evening would be: Learning to give unlovely food a chance.

The Ugli Fruit

This fruit was discovered growing wild in Jamaica, and it's what Bob Ross likes to call a "happy little accident," as a hybridization between a grapefruit, an orange and a tangerine. I've always been fascinated with hybrids. Ligers and Tiglons and  Mules - Oh, my. I have much less knowledge of plant hybrids, though. I remember one summer when my Mom had a garden that accidentally produced a few bizarre cucumelons. They weren't very tasty. The Ugli fruit is another story, though...

Obviously these fellows have some skin problems, and the rind is thick and soft.

They're very easy to peel.

The first thing I noticed was that there was this gaping cavity in the middle.

Look! Another unexpected doughnut for the blog!

Slices, pictured with Skilpad, our trusty mascot, for size reference.

The smell was exceptionally alluring - sweetly citrusy. Very summery and warm. When I took the first bite of one of those big slices, the thing I noticed most was how juicy these are! And the flavor was unique. Sweet, and yet retaining a little of that grapefruit zing in there to keep it interesting. I got Waybums to try a piece. And she came back for another. And another. It's pretty satisfying, and being so large we have leftovers for breakfast in the morning.

The Blue Cheese

So, I shouldn't have done my research BeFoRe I ate the cheese.

Because it did nothing to prompt my desire to try it.

 
The legend behind blue cheese is that a shepherd was hanging out in one of the local caves with his cheese and other lunch staples when he saw a cute girl off in the distance and spent the next few days trying to find her. Supposedly, when he got back to the cave, he saw that his cheese curds had been attacked by mold spores and he decided to eat it anyway. I don't know. I have a problem with that part of the story.
 
One time when I lived in San Diego I accidentally ate some moldy peanut butter toast. Well, I ate the toast on purpose, but not the mold. The worst part was that when I went to put the last two pieces of bread away, I flipped the butt of the loaf over and it was bright green.  I'd just eaten four pieces of that bread. Bleh. I just can't imagine finding that loaf of bread and knowing it was growing with who-knows-what, shrugging and chomping on it anyway.
 

Of course, I did just buy pre-moldy cheese.

Hmm.

 

Ok, but I know it's moldy on purpose and that it's regulated mold that other people have been eating and surviving. Yeah. That makes it ok. But then I found out that the bacteria prompted to grow on this cheese is the same bacteria that causes foot odor. Yum.

So, I trudged on with my lesson, knowing all these things. There were a few crumbles that fell off the end of the cheese and they seemed like a good place to start. I poured a glass of sparkling grape juice so I'd have wash-down capabilities and popped the crumb in my mouth.

I've never tasted anything like it before in my life.

I'm not saying that I loved it right away and was savoring it. I'm just saying that it completely perplexed and dumbfounded my tastebuds. The texture is creamy and crumbly, smooth. It was such a unique flavor, and hard to categorize. It was kind of earthy, and reminded me of the frangrance of morels we'd found mushroom hunting. It had the boldness of "tangy" without the twang. Instead of twanging at the end, it sort of tingled. It was savory, but not really salty. The white part of the cheese was very mild and the moldy part was much more powerful tasting. I kept popping more crumbs in because I was trying to figure out how to define the flavor.

I Did Not Like

Green Fuzz on Cheese

Would not try it

Thank you, please.

But after just a teeny bite

I thought that it

might be alright...

By George! I kind of liked this moldy cheese! So I looked up a recipe for it and tried it out - Blue Cheese and Broccoli Soup. I thought it was really pretty good. I had some heavy whipping cream that I had to use up and I substituted that for one of the cups of milk. And I put more onions and thyme in. The Blue Cheese really made it.

 It's also a little less intimidating when you can't see the fuzz.

My mom was always pretty good about encouraging me to try new things when I was a kid. Even if it was just to take one bite. "You never know until you try it," was the motto I remember. It's led me to some interesting culinary adventures through the years. And now I've had one more.  

Thanks for coming along, and I'll keep you posted about tomorrow's adventure. :)