Editor’s note: This year we delved into blue cheese, learning all about it in Blue Cheese 101, then Understanding Blue Cheese Lovers and Haters, and finally finding out What to Drink with Blue Cheese. So it seems only right that we would share the best blue cheese-themed gifts.
Not all cheese lovers are created equal. There are cheese lovers, and then there are blue cheese lovers, and these are separate breeds of dairy aficionado altogether. Much in the way that all bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon, all blue cheese lovers are cheese lovers, but not all cheese lovers are blue cheese lovers. More’s the pity, says one who is decidedly in the pro-blue cheese camp.
Blue cheese inspires strong feelings among both its champions and detractors. All cheese is affected by mold, but only blue cheese has the courage to display it boldly. (Nice try, bloomy rinds, with your friendly, pashmina-like mold.) A blue cheese literally opens its veins for you, unapologetically announcing that it is a thing both alive, and in a continual state of decay. It is metaphorical, ephemeral, and frankly, damned tasty. Any who disagree with me have simply proven that they haven’t yet tried blue cheese correctly.
Enough with rapture, as there is a point: Lovers of blue cheese are the kind of niche enthusiasts who can be easy to gift for, simply by indulging their atypical obsession. For the blue cheese aficionado in your life, here are 8 gifts to inspire a blue but brilliant Christmas this year.
Rogue River Blue Tea Towel
After winning the world champion at the 2019 World Cheese Awards, Oregon’s Rogue River Blue became one of those cheeses that people go crazy for during its limited winter release, so much so that Rogue Creamery created branded gifts to satisfy its addicts all year long. Mugs and cheese boards are available with Rogue River Blue imagery, but I am partial to the penicillium-roqueforti-colored tea towel with illustrations by Jim Starr.
Only Bleu Will Do Magnet
Perfect for a stocking stuffer or small trinket gift, this vintage magnet from Etsy seller MollyIllustration proclaims a capital-T Truth for blue cheese lovers: only bleu will do. As a Midwesterner whose birthright is ranch dressing, I still must concur with Buffalo-based designer Molly Beres where the appropriate condiment for wings is concerned.
Roquefort T-Shirt
Simple. Declarative. Fierce. Roquefort is an especially badass blue cheese, so no frills are needed in a t-shirt that acts as a signal to others in the know. You hardly even need to choose a blue shirt color to make the point. Other available shirts from designer Michael Davies also include single-statement cheeses such as Gouda, Halloumi, and, if you’re feeling ironic, Velveeta.
Blue Cheese Necklace
There are those for whom Christmas would not be complete without a gift of jewelry. Sapphires are nice and all, but for my taste in blue ornamentation? This blue cheese charm from Etsy store SweetheartCraftsCo shines just as brightly. With that slightly orange rind, you know the designer is hip to a variety of blue styles. Perhaps Stilton or Fourme D’ambert were the models?
Jellycat Amuseable Blue Cheese Plush Doll
Hopscotch labels itself as a “children’s store,” which begs the question— am I, a full-grown adult woman, allowed to covet a plush, blue cheese comfort doll? These are still uncertain times we live in, and I believe that I am. Blue cheese brings comfort in all of its forms. For that matter, I’d strongly advocate gifting this to any kids showing signs of an adventurous palate, so that they may learn early on that blue cheese is their friend.
Blue Cheese Spreaders
These cheese spreaders by Etsy seller Supreme Giftware aren’t specifically designated for spreading blue cheese, but they are indeed blue cheese spreaders. It’s a good look, plain and simple, to have the handle of your cheese tools match the cheese of choice itself.
Cheese Lover Neon Sign
In a similar vein—get it? Vein? Blue Cheese?—this bombastic neon sign proclaiming “cheese lover” is available in a multitude of colors, but if one were to choose blue…your blue cheese lover will feel seen. It’s a bit of a splurge, but a supremely cool gift for the right kind of blue cheese lover looking to decorate a basement, den, game room, or—for the truly bold among us—entrance foyer.
Mike Geno Custom Blue Cheese Painting
Previous profiled here on Cheese Professor, Philadelphia-based artist Mike Geno has a number of original paintings available depicting blue cheese: Bridgeman Blue, Negroni Blue, and Cambozola, among others. Geno works from real-life, never photos, producing oil-on-wood masterpieces that are one-of-a-kind, perfect for the truly original blue cheese lover in your life this season.