Blue cheese is believed to have been discovered by accident when cheeses were stored in caves with naturally controlled temperature and moisture levels which happened to be favorable environments for varieties of harmless mold.[4] Analysis of paleofeces sampled in the salt mines of Hallstatt, Austria showed that miners of the Hallstatt Period (800 to 400 BC) already consumed blue cheese. According to legend, one of the first blue cheeses, Roquefort, was discovered when a young boy, eating bread and ewes' milk cheese, abandoned his meal in a nearby cave after seeing a beautiful girl in the distance. When he returned months later, the mold (Penicillium roqueforti) had transformed his cheese into Roquefort.[6][7] Gorgonzola is one of the oldest known blue cheeses, having been created around AD 879, though it is said that it did not contain blue veins until around the 11th century.[8][9] Stilton is a relatively new addition, becoming popular sometime in the early 1700s.[10] Many varieties of blue cheese originated subsequently, such as the 20th century Danablu and Cambozola, which were an attempt to fill the demand for Roquefort-style cheeses.
