- Season
- Available all year in Czech supermarkets. Czech farm cheese is most plentiful from spring to autumn, when goats are milking.
- Price
- Medium
- Nutrition per 100 g
- 288 kcal
- 18 g protein
- 23 g fat
- 0.5 g carbs
Blue Goat Cheese
Dairy
Blue Goat Cheese
In Czech shops, kozí sýr plísňový is a soft cheese made from goat's milk and ripened with a mould. It is almost always a white-mould type (kozí sýr s bílou plísní) sold as a log, a round or a slice cut from a log, and is the goat's-milk relative of camembert and of the French bûche de chèvre.
In practice
How to store
- On the counter
Keep it out of the fridge only to temper it before serving. Take it out 30–60 minutes ahead so the texture softens and the flavour comes through. Do not leave it at room temperature for long periods.
- In the fridge
Store at the temperature on the label, usually no higher than 8 °C, and eat it by the date shown. Once opened, wrap it in cheese or baking paper, or put it in a loosely closed box, so the rind can breathe. Cling film traps moisture and makes the rind slimy. Eat opened cheese within a few days. Keep it away from other cheeses, because the mould can spread to them.
- In the freezer
Not recommended. Freezing breaks the creamy texture and the rind. If you must freeze it, use it only in cooked dishes afterwards and thaw it in the fridge.
How to choose
Read the label. In Czech, 'kozí' means the cheese is made only from goat's milk. 'Kozí sýr s bílou plísní' tells you it has a white rind. Check whether the milk is pasteurised (z pasterovaného mléka) or raw (ze syrového mléka). Labels also show fat in dry matter (tuk v sušině), often at least 45 %, and whether the rennet is microbial. That matters to vegetarians, because traditional rennet is animal-derived. The rind should be even, white and dry, with no slime, grey-green spots or cracks. A young cheese feels firm all the way through. A riper one gives slightly under the rind. Avoid cheese with a strong ammonia smell or one sealed in a swollen pack. Farm cheeses from Czech producers are sold at farmers' markets, at the farm gate and in delicatessens.
What to swap in
Best swap
Another white-rind cheese, such as camembert, brie or a sheep's-milk white-mould cheese. The texture and rind will be similar, but the flavour is less tangy than goat.
In a pinch
Fresh goat cheese (čerstvý kozí sýr). It has the goat tang but no rind and no ripened creaminess. It works well in salads and on toast but holds its shape less well when baked.
Preparation
The white rind is edible and is part of the flavour, so there is no need to remove it. Cut cold cheese with a thin, wetted knife or a cheese wire to get clean slices from a log. For a cheese board, slice it shortly before serving and let it come up towards room temperature. For grilling or baking, cut slices at least 1.5 cm thick so they hold their shape.
Don't toss it
Use hardened ends and pieces with over-ripe rind in cooked dishes, as long as the cheese is within its date and shows no foreign mould. Stir them into hot pasta, risotto or a creamy spinach sauce, or bake them into a quiche or savoury pastry, where a stronger flavour works well.
In the kitchen
Cooking
In Czech kitchens it is most often served cold on a cheese board, or as the warm part of a salad. A classic is slices grilled or baked on toast or baguette, drizzled with honey and served with walnuts on leaves or roasted beetroot. Small whole rounds or thick slices can be baked at about 180–200 °C for a few minutes, or cooked on the barbecue in foil or a dish, until soft inside but still holding their shape. Warmed with cream or milk, it melts into a sauce for pasta or spinach. Short, high heat is best. Long cooking turns the cheese grainy and makes the rind bitter.
Goes well with
- Honey
- Walnuts
- Beetroot
- Pears
- Figs
- Rocket
- Spinach
- Thyme
- Rosemary
- Cranberries
- Sourdough Bread
- Dry White Wine
What it is
In Czech shops, kozí sýr plísňový is a soft cheese made from goat's milk and ripened with a mould. It is almost always a white-mould type (kozí sýr s bílou plísní) sold as a log, a round or a slice cut from a log, and is the goat's-milk relative of camembert and of the French bûche de chèvre. The outside is covered with a thin, velvety, edible rind of white mould, usually Penicillium candidum (also called P. camemberti). Under the rind is a soft, creamy layer, and the centre is chalk-white and firmer. Czech law (vyhláška 397/2016 Sb.) puts it among ripened natural cheeses as a mould cheese with mould on the surface (plísňový sýr s plísní na povrchu). Blue-veined goat cheeses (s modrou plísní) exist but are much less common in Czech shops. Supermarkets mostly sell imported cheese packed as small portions of about 100–180 g, often from the Netherlands, France or Spain and sometimes cut and packed in Poland. Delicatessens slice it from logs of about 1 kg. Czech goat farms and small cheese dairies also make their own white-mould goat cheeses.
How it tastes
A young cheese tastes fresh, gently sour and lightly 'goaty', with a mushroomy note from the rind. As it ripens, the layer under the rind becomes runny and the flavour turns stronger, nuttier and slightly peppery. The rind can become a little bitter or smell of ammonia when the cheese is over-ripe. The chalky centre stays the mildest and most acidic part.
Common questions
Can you eat the rind of mould-ripened goat cheese?
Is kozí sýr plísňový a blue cheese?
How do you bake goat cheese with a white rind?
How should I store an opened piece?
Is it safe during pregnancy?
Deep dive
3 min read
Varieties
White-mould goat log (bûche de chèvre type)
– The most common type in Czech shops: a long cylinder with a white rind, sold whole or as slices and portions. Delicatessens sell French and Spanish logs, and Czech farm dairies make their own.
Small white-mould rounds and camembert-type goat cheeses
– Small discs or squares, often about 100–150 g, made in the same way as camembert but from goat's milk. They are good for baking whole.
Ash-coated goat cheeses
– Goat cheeses whose surface is dusted with edible vegetable ash before the white mould grows, giving a grey-black line under the rind. They are found mainly in specialist cheese shops.
Blue-veined goat cheese (kozí sýr s modrou plísní)
– A different, less common product. Penicillium roqueforti grows inside the cheese, giving blue-green veins and a sharper, spicier flavour. It is sold occasionally by Czech farms and specialist shops.
Related but different
– Fresh goat cheese (čerstvý kozí sýr) has no mould and is not ripened. Cow's-milk white-mould cheeses such as Hermelín, camembert and brie are made the same way from a different milk.
History
Goat cheeses ripened with surface mould come mainly from French tradition, especially the Loire valley, where logs and small shapes of goat cheese have long been made. In Czechia, this kind of cheese is mostly imported. A number of Czech goat farms and family cheese dairies also make their own white-mould goat cheeses alongside fresh and ripened goat cheeses, and sell them direct and through delicatessens and online grocers.
Science
The cheese is made by setting goat's milk with starter cultures and rennet. The soft, unpressed curd is drained and salted, and white mould spores are added to the milk or sprayed on the surface. Over about the first week to two weeks, the mould covers the cheese with a white felt. The mould's enzymes break down protein and fat from the outside in. That is why a ripening cheese has a soft, creamy layer under the rind and a firmer, chalky, acidic centre.
The typical 'goaty' flavour comes largely from free fatty acids in goat's-milk fat, above all the branched-chain 4-methyloctanoic and 4-ethyloctanoic acids, together with caproic, caprylic and capric acid. As the mould breaks down the fat, these acids are released and the flavour gets stronger with age. The cheese is very white because goats convert beta-carotene into colourless vitamin A, so there is little yellow pigment in the milk fat. As ripening continues, protein breakdown releases ammonia, which causes the sharp smell of over-ripe cheese.
Sourcing and ethics
Supermarket portions are usually made from pasteurised EU milk at large dairies in the Netherlands, France, Spain or Poland. Czech farm cheeses are made in small batches, often from the farm's own herd, so buying them supports local goat farming. Ask farms how the animals are kept and grazed. Organic (BIO) versions carry the EU organic logo.
Food safety: soft, mould-ripened cheeses, especially raw-milk ones, carry a higher risk of Listeria. Pregnant people, older people and anyone with a weakened immune system are generally advised to avoid them unless the cheese has been heated until steaming hot all the way through. Check the label for raw milk (ze syrového mléka). The cheese contains milk, one of the 14 allergens that must be labelled in the EU. Goat's milk is not a safe alternative for people with cow's-milk protein allergy.