Blue cheese

Blue cheese is notable for histamine, tyramine, oxalates and gluten. Clear on salicylate, sucrose, FODMAPs, lactose, oligosaccharides, sorbitol, fructose and nickel.

Yes — blue cheese is high in histamine. Blue cheeses are among the very highest-histamine foods measured, and the reason is structural rather than incidental: the mould is grown THROUGH the paste, on purpose, along channels pierced into it, so the protein breakdown happens everywhere at once instead of from the surface inwards. A small portion is still a large dose.

Yes — blue cheese is high in tyramine. Blue cheeses are among the highest here because the mould is grown THROUGH the paste rather than on its surface - protein breakdown happens everywhere at once. A small portion is still a large dose, which is why MAOI guidance names them alongside aged cheddar.

Blue cheese contains only low levels of oxalates. Blue cheese contains no oxalate of its own - oxalate is a plant compound and this is not a plant. The mould changes nothing here: it works on the milk's proteins and fats, and plant compounds are not what it lives on. Its calcium even helps the rest of the plate: it binds oxalate from whatever is eaten alongside.

Blue cheese contains only low levels of gluten. Blue cheese is here for a reason that has expired: the Penicillium was historically grown on bread, and the fear of gluten in blue cheese comes from that. Cheese is on Coeliac UK's naturally gluten-free list, and that general position is what supports it here — neither association publishes a dosage of blue cheese, nor anything about how the mould is cultured today. It is milk, salt and mould. Amounts vary by brand and recipe, so always check the label of the exact product.