category: food/groceries: milk and dairy products: cheese

Roquefort

Roquefort is a French semi-hard cheese with interior mould that is made from pure sheep milk. It is the best known of all blue cheeses. The Romans already knew Roquefort and it is mentioned as early as 1060 in the books of the convent of Conques. In 1411 Charles VI of France issued the first protection provisions for the production of Roquefort.

In the beginning only milk from sheep grazing around Les Casses and Larzac could be used for the production of Roquefort. Soon the high demand of Roquefort exceeded the milk yield of sheep in that region. Today sheep milk from other departments in Southern France may be used as well. Maturing and storage on the other hand still has to take place in the rock caves of the mountain Combalou near the commune of Roquefort.

The caves in which Roquefort is matured are several kilometres long. Only in these caves does the typical mould Penicillium roqueforti occur naturally and develop the cheese into a real Roquefort.

Roquefort is a blue cheese without rind. Its white, sometimes yellowish surface is slightly smeary. The interior is soft, cream coloured and shows bluish-green to grey veins of mould. It is slightly crumbly and tastes aromatic to sharp. Its taste can only be described as typically Roquefort.

Roquefort matures for about 3 months. Its fat content lies between 50 and 60% fat in dry matter.