Why is cheese mould unlike other mouldy foods, in that you can eat it and it’s even good for you?
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Only the specific strains of mould purposefully grown on cheese are safe to eat.
If you just take a random piece of Gouda and let mould grow, it has the same chance of being toxic as other foods that go bad.
Someone just noticed that those strains did minor safe fermentation improving the taste, and thus the new cheeses were innoculated with the edible mould. This prevents others moulds from growing by giving the good one a jump start and gives a better taste/
The same thing is done in other fermented foods like kimchi, or real Jogurt, just with bacteria in those.
Or bread and beer, with yeast fungi.
Funnily enough you can make mead without adding yeast rather easily, because honey contains plenty of wild yeast spores, so mos cases when you mix fresh honey with water; yeast is gilbt to win.
If you try the same with untreated wheat or rye, you have a good chance of ending up with sourdough: naturally occurring yeast and bacteria on those grains frequently outcompete other microbes while being save to eat.
But if you don‘t do this on purpose, there’s a risk toxic bacteria and fungi will grow.
Cheese works the samey
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