What is Roquefort?

Roquefort is a type of blue cheese that is known all over the world as the "King of cheeses, cheese of the kings". This blue cheese named around the village of Roquefort in Aveyron, in the south of France, is especially infamous for its pungent odor and characteristic blue mold. Equally fascinating is its unique production process. In fact, Roquefort falls under the "protected designation of origin" (PDO) provided by the European Union law.

Pdo defines that Roquefort must be produced according to certain regulations, such as the use of milk from a particular breed of sheep, the location in which the cheese is mature, and the type of mold used for the maturation process. Therefore, to guarantee the quality and cleanliness of Roquefort, only Lacaune Ewe milk is processed and cultivated with a fungus called penicillium Roquefort and left naturally mature in Combalaou in Roquefort.

The story behind the origin of the Roquefort Blue Cheese was romanticized in the very old legend of the country. Legend begins with a young shepherd who in the hills of RoquefortAt his herd, he focused on his herd of sheep when he suddenly saw a beautiful girl in the distance. Determined to find her, the shepherd had his dog guarded sheep and hastily placed his lunch - bread and muddy milk cottage cheese - to nearby caves to keep himself cool.

The shepherd was gone for days and was looking for his girl. Unfortunately he never found her. The shepherd slipped, returned to his sheep, tired and hungry.

When he pulled lunch out of the caves, he found that bread and milk cottage cheese were moldy. His hesitation was short because of his growing hunger. With some fear, the shepherd bit and was pleasantly surprised to find that his moldy lunch tasted quite tasty! So Roquefort was born.

production Roquefort Blue cheese includes a number of processes, starting with the delivery of Lacaune EWe to the dairy. Once there, milk passes through some chemical and bacteriological tests to ensure that the production of Roquefort is used only no nomore Jkovit Ice milk. After these tests, the milk is heated to 82.4 ° F and 93.2 ° F (28 ° C and 34 ° C) and placed in large VapTS.

Then the spores of the fungi penicillium Roqueforti are added to these VAPTS, allowing milk to ferment into cottage cheese. Once the curd is ready, they are cut into cubes and transferred to cheese molds, where they are released and solene into cheese loaves. Cheese loaves remain in the dairy for another ten days before they are moved to caves Combalay for natural maturation.

Before entering the wet caves, cheese loaves are pierced about 40 times. These small holes allow air and promote mushroom growth. Cheese loaves are left for two to three weeks that enough molds have grown into cheese. Once the cheese is sufficient penicillium roqueforti, the loaves are packed and left to grow up at lower temperatures. Three to ten months later, the cheese loaves leave the caves like Roquefort Blue cheese.

Roquefort BlueCheese is a taste. Many of them are thrown away by its strong odor and do not attempt to taste it. It is a pity, because the wet and creamy texture Roquefort is a truly delicate experience that you must not miss.