Jump to content
  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.


  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):
    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):
  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

Bleu Cheese


Sweetfudge

Recommended Posts

gfp Enthusiast
Hmmm, I love bleu & have missed it because of the could-be-gluten warnings. But I just had a thought... these molds that grow on wheat... could they possibly be advantageous to Celiacs? Maybe they actually digest & destroy gluten! I'm thinking they might be analogous to the bacteria that make yogurt more digestible for the lactose intolerant. It's probably just wishful thinking, but maybe our bellies need some Roquefort!

Hm but we have LSD available now so no need for ergot... :ph34r:

Seriously though I have the same thoughts....


Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



TinkerbellSwt Collaborator

Wow.. i have learned a lot from this thread. I have always been wondering about the subject of bleu cheese. I love the stuff and was always afraid to try it. If I understood correctly, some bleu actually says wheat on it?

The ones that dont should be safe?

I might not be understanding this. Please someone simplify it for me? I get all kinds of confuzzeled.

gfp Enthusiast
Wow.. i have learned a lot from this thread. I have always been wondering about the subject of bleu cheese. I love the stuff and was always afraid to try it. If I understood correctly, some bleu actually says wheat on it?

The ones that dont should be safe?

I might not be understanding this. Please someone simplify it for me? I get all kinds of confuzzeled.

Basically it depends on the manufacturer.

For instance, some Roquefort is started of with a culture grown on rye bread whereas other's are naturally allowed to develop mould from the cave.

lovegrov Collaborator

One more thought on bleu cheese. Many folks, including those who make cheese, very seriously doubt that "gluten" would even transfer in a culture grown on bread. And if it does transfer, the percentage of gluten in the culture would be miniscule and the amount of culture used is so tiny that the resulting gluten in the cheese would be so minor as to not be measureable. You get more gluten every time you eat a processed food or eat out.

I can't prove this is true, but it makes sense to me. Bleu cheese iosn't even a blip on my gluten radar.

richard

gfp Enthusiast
One more thought on bleu cheese. Many folks, including those who make cheese, very seriously doubt that "gluten" would even transfer in a culture grown on bread. And if it does transfer, the percentage of gluten in the culture would be miniscule and the amount of culture used is so tiny that the resulting gluten in the cheese would be so minor as to not be measureable. You get more gluten every time you eat a processed food or eat out.

I can't prove this is true, but it makes sense to me. Bleu cheese iosn't even a blip on my gluten radar.

richard

I lean towards this myself, its not actually the bread they are taking just a scraping off the bread and i think they mostly say this for "advertising".. for instance Roquefort Papillion make a big deal about the traditional rye bread but quite how often they go back the the bread is not mentioned... they can just take some of the mould from one of the other cheeses... and do this more or less indefinately.

On the other hand Societe guarantee both their Roquefort cheeses are natually infected for the caves ...two different sets of caves and hence 2 different strains of the penecilin.

I'm not seriously worried about the Papillon but given an equal choice take the other, especially since the Bargnaudes is my favorite anyway...

eKatherine Apprentice

I read a recipe for making blue cheese at home where you innoculated the cheese curds with a slurry of your favorite blue cheese before hooping them.

VegasCeliacBuckeye Collaborator

Soory it took me so long to chime in, but between the computer troubles and my crazy week at work, I have been swamped.

Ok, here is the "skinny" on the issue.

When Bleu cheese was origianlly made (and made in some expensive cheeseries - Stilton, Maytag, etc), the culture that produced the bacteria to make bleu cheese was started on bread. The mold that was made (cultured) was then introduced to a certain cheese and then the bacteria would reproduce and have a reaction throughout the cheese (thus turning the cheese moldy or blue).

In the late 90's (and early 2000's), thanks to the internet, Celiac urban lagends and myths abounded and this one was incredibly popular. Afterall, if the bacteria came from bread, then the entire cheese has gluten in it right?

Wrong...

Most bleu cheese manufacturers now acquire their mold/culture via a scientifically made medium which is manufactured in gross and which allows them to produce massive amounts of bleu cheese (tons and tons).

Think about it, what is cheaper? Making the bacteria on your own with bread and then having people carefully remove gthe mold and introduce to cheese by hand....OR buying/manufacturing your own bacteria and having computers/machines to introduce the process and manufacture tons of cheese at half the labor cost???

I know what you're saying....but Bronco, not everyone does that...some people still make bleu cheese the old-fashioned way, right?

That is correct!

Is it safe? -- This is the one that is up for debate.

Personally, I say yes. In a scientific sense, the likelihood that a bacteria grown from mold (which is breaking down the bread) and placed on/in/around cheese would somehow still have gluten left in it after the decomposition of both the bread and the cheese??? Seems remote to me. But we all make our own decisions.

anyway, I hope this somehow clears the issue up (though it could confuse the issue also - LOL)

For the record, I eat it all the time with no ill effects...

"they can take our bread, but they will never take our FREEDOM...or bleu cheese..."


Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Celiac.com:
    Join eNewsletter
    Donate

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):
    Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):





    Celiac.com Sponsors (A17-M):




  • Recent Activity

    1. - Scott Adams replied to Thoughtidjoin's topic in Gluten-Free Foods, Products, Shopping & Medications
      3

      Dried Chickpeas

    2. - knitty kitty replied to Thoughtidjoin's topic in Gluten-Free Foods, Products, Shopping & Medications
      3

      Dried Chickpeas

    3. - trents replied to Thoughtidjoin's topic in Gluten-Free Foods, Products, Shopping & Medications
      3

      Dried Chickpeas

    4. - Scott Adams commented on Scott Adams's article in Origins of Celiac Disease
      7

      Do Antibiotics in Babies Increase Celiac Disease Risk Later in Life? (+Video)

    5. - Thoughtidjoin posted a topic in Gluten-Free Foods, Products, Shopping & Medications
      3

      Dried Chickpeas

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):
  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      133,431
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748

    Dave162
    Newest Member
    Dave162
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):
  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.6k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):
  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • Scott Adams
      If a package of dried chickpeas or lentils says “may contain” or “may have been cross contaminated,” that usually means they were processed in facilities that also handle wheat, barley, or rye. The concern is not gluten dissolved on the surface like dust that can simply be rinsed away, but small fragments of gluten-containing grains that may be mixed in during harvesting, storage, or packaging. Rinsing and sorting can reduce surface flour and remove visible stray grains, and many people do this successfully, but it does not guarantee that all gluten contamination is eliminated. Some limited testing has shown that naturally gluten-free grains and legumes can contain measurable gluten when cross-contact occurs in shared facilities, which is why manufacturers use precautionary labeling. The seriousness depends on the individual: for someone with celiac disease, even small amounts of gluten can trigger intestinal damage, so choosing certified gluten-free legumes is the safest option. Manufacturers are not necessarily being overly cautious; they are often acknowledging real cross-contact risk in complex agricultural supply chains.
    • knitty kitty
      Welcome,  While picking through chickpeas and lentils I have found little pebbles and on occasion, a kernel or two of wheat.  Farm equipment and transport trucks are used to harvest different crops.  It would be really expensive to have separate trucks and packaging lines for each crop.   I have found sorting or picking through the peas or lentils along with a good rinse sufficient to make them safe for me.  Do remember that lentils and such are high in carbohydrates.  Eating a diet high in carbs can lower thiamine B1.  Good sources of Thiamine and other B vitamins are meats.  Extra thiamine is needed for tissue repair to grow the villi back and recovery from malabsorption.  Low thiamine symptoms (gastric Beriberi) are very similar to symptoms of a glutening.  Try adding thiamine hydrochloride or Benfotiamine and see if you still react to chickpeas and lentils the same way. Supplementing with extra thiamine is safe and nontoxic.   Best wishes.
    • trents
      Welcome to the celiac.com community, @Thoughtidjoin! I would think so, yes. But you need to realize that cross contamination studies with lintels have shown the real problem isn't only coming in contact with gluten containing grains in processing but in the actual mixing in of cereal grain seeds in significant quantities with the lentils. I think it was a study done by Gluten Free Watchdog I'm thinking of but they did an actual count of the seeds in a purchased mainline food company bag of lintels and found something like 20% of the content was wheat seeds. So, you'd better do some sorting first.
    • Thoughtidjoin
      Can I wash gluten off dried chickpeas or green lentils when the packet says “may have been cross contaminated?” Has there been any research into this?  If so what are the results? If no research has been done why not? I am getting mixed advice from different sources, how serious is this or are the food manufacturer being over cautious? Many thanks Catherine
    • catnapt
      I've got some lab work results going back to 2010, various MRIs and CT scans and ultrasounds. I discovered two things that MIGHT be of interest to the GI doc tell me what you think? one is the results to an abdominal CT scan with contrast in 2013 that includes this:  "there is some thickening seen in the second and third portions of the duodenum"    Since this CT scan was for left lower quad pain, it was not followed up on   Then in May of 2024 I saw a foot specialist for problems with my feet. Some of that pain is due to a very obvious deformity of both of my legs- the right worse than the left. The dr suggested that my symptoms sounded like an auto immune condition (???) and I thought he was nuts but he ordered some lab work- it came back negative except for a weak positive on one test HLA-B27 and there was a follow up test recommended but that was never ordered and this dr gave me a useless Rx for custom insoles which he refused to address - and my calls to his office were never returned.   At that time I was having all over joint pains, plus some numbness in my feet (also stiffness) and some burning pain in my toes- esp the big toe on the right foot (the more deformed side of my body)   The last time I was eating any appreciable amount of gluten containing foods was in the period of Nov 2024 to around sometime in the summer of 2024. I regularly ate a barley soup that I loved and had subs and pizza and toast etc. I was no longer eating wheat pasta, had already switched to brown rice pasta but otherwise I had not yet made a clear connection between what I was calling 'refined grain products' and any symptoms that I had. And the symptoms were vague and could be attributed to other things.   I was referred to a neurologist in late 2023 for symptoms  of confusion/disorientation, that included loss of balance that I attributed, in part, to the inability to feel where my feet were. Some symptoms such as high spikes in blood pressure (some close to 200 over 100! scary stuff) were later determined to be due to covid or long covid (also had loss of sense of smell and taste)    I had periods of dizziness that did NOT include any spinning sensations, it was more of a feeling of lightheadedness as if my mind would go blank- very strange, never really got any answers about that but that eventually went away so not worried about that   WHAT OTHER THINGS from my past records might be good for the GI dr to know? I had my very first Vit D test done in 2023 and it was low at 23, supplements have gotten that up in the range of adequate but values varied up and down... most recent test was Nov 2025 and it was 45ish I think. That's on a min of 5000Ius per day (there are some fortified foods I eat sometimes that have added vit D)   I thought my serum calcium ran on the low side but it turns out that the reference ranges have changed for the labs that I use- one changed their RR back around er, 2014 I think? so I have no clue how to compare the results before and after those changes   calcium has never been below normal and most of my blood work looks "normal" except during illness or other issues like if I'm in afib- blood work looks insane LOL    I don't know what to make of all this but it sure will be nice to get some answers!         
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

NOTICE: This site places This site places cookies on your device (Cookie settings). on your device. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.