You Can Thank The Midwest For The Blue Cheese Stuffed Olive In Your Martini

Blue cheese stuffed olives are savory, creamy, and tangy, but add them to a classic martini and the intense floral notes of your gin take centerstage. Their salty nature also helps round out the flavor of the vermouth needed for this cocktail, making for a strong but well-balanced drinking experience. While adding olives to martinis started trending in the 1880s, the origin story of the addition of green olives stuffed with the veiny, soft, blue cheese didn't become part of the gin martini lore until 1989 and it was a big Midwestern city that got it started. 

As the tale goes, per Punch, Club Lucky, a restaurant in Chicago, Illinois began serving them right before the decade crossed over to the '90s. The eatery would stuff the olives onsite and use them as a garnish for these sophisticated drinks. The concept spread to a steakhouse in Wisconsin and soon caught fire with blue cheese stuffed olives becoming a fixture in martinis at bars just about everywhere. 

It's fair to say that stuffed olives were not necessarily a new thing when restaurants in the Windy City started popularizing them with imbibers. Before that, the pimento stuffed olive had long ruled the martini world. In the 1970s, there was an early attempt from olive advocates to use black olives stuffed with blue cheese in martinis served at the famous Drake Hotel. It was known as a B.O.M. — a black olive martini — but didn't gain traction and fizzled out.

Black olives were never worthy competition because they just don't have the same salty bitterness that pairs so perfectly with a martini. Is there a right type of olive to put in a martini?  It's really a matter of preference, but a meaty Spanish varieties like Manzanilla or Greek Halkidiki are commonly used to create blue cheese stuffed olives. These olives have a strong, punchy flavor which requires a stuffing that has an equally strong flavor profile that can go mano-a-mano, which is why blue cheese works so well.

You can make your own blue cheese stuffed olives for your martinis or you can easily buy them at the grocery store. Whichever choice you opt for, remember that you need to store blue cheese olives in the fridge until you are ready to use them. A martini, shaken or stirred, is meant to be chilled, and room temperature olives will warm up the drink more quickly than intended — not to mention that cheese shouldn't be left at room temperature for more than two hours.

If you are looking for an expert-approved cheese to nibble with your next gin martini Matthew Rose, American Cheese Society certified cheese professional and partner at Fairfield Cheese, told Daily Meal that the French blue cheese known as Roquefort should be what you are reaching for. Its strong, pungent taste and aroma will enhance the botanical notes of your gin of choice. Try your stuffed Roquefort cheese olives in your next blue cheese dirty martini.