Roquefort
Roquefort, a blue-veined, semisoft to hard cheese, is named for the
village of Roquefort in the Department of Aveyron in southeastern France,
where its manufacture has been an im****tant industry for more than two
centuries. At one time shepherds prepared the curd, but now the milk is
collected and the curd is prepared in centralized dairies.
A French regulation limits use of the word Roquefort to cheese made
in the Roquefort area from ewe's milk. Other French cheese of the
Roquefort type is called Bleu cheese, and Roquefort-type cheese made in
the United States and other countries is known as Blue cheese. In addi-
tion, there are the distinctive blue-veined cheeses of England (Stilton)
and Italy (Gorgonzola). (See Bleu, Blue, Stilton, and Gorgonzola.)
Roquefort cheese is characterized by its sharp, peppery, piquant flavor,
and by the mottled, blue-green veins throughout the curd and the white-
ness of the curd between the veins. Powder containing s****es of
Penicillium
roqueforti mold is added to the curd as it is being put into the hoops,
and
the veins result from growth of the mold during the curing period. The
powder is prepared by inocculating loaves of fresh bread with a pure
culture
of mold; when the mold has permeated the bread - in 4 to 6 weeks - the
interior is crumbled, dried, ground, sifted, and stored for use in the
cheese.
Following is a brief description of the making process: Ewe's whole
milk is set with rennet at a temperature between 76 and 82 F. It is
customary to heat fresh milk to between 122 and 140F. and then to add
enough cold milk to adjust the mixture to the setting temperature. After
a coagulation period of 1 1/2 to 2 hours, the curd is cut, the free whey
is
removed, and the curd either is transferred onto a cloth to drain or is
mixed and drained in the vat. Then it is transferred to perforated metal
hoops, about 7 1/2 inches in diameter and 6 inches deep, which rest on
drain mats on drain boards. The curd is put into the hoops in 3 or 4
layers, and blue-mold powder is sprinkled between each layer.
The curd is not pressed, but the hoops are turned several times the
first day, and two or three times daily for the next 4 or 5 days. Then the
cheeses are removed from the hoops, and they are taken to the caves for
salting and curing. There are many natural caves in the Roquefort area
and additional excavations have been made. The caves are a network of
caverns and grottoes connected with one another and with the outside
surface by numerous channels through which a brisk movement of cool,
moist air keeps the temperature at not more than 50F. (often as low as
40F.) and the relative humidity at about 95 percent throughout the year,
thus providing natural conditions that are favorable to mold growth and
ripening of Roquefort cheese.
The cheeses are dry salted, piled in two or three layers for 3 days,
then
salted again and piled in layers for another 3 or 4 days - making a total
salting period of a week. Besides improving the flavor, the rather heavy
salting retards growth of slime-forming micro-organisms and foreign molds
and is one of the factors that control normal ripening. When salting is
completed, each cheese is punched with 60 or more holes, which permit air
to reach the interior of the cheese so that the blue mold can grow. The
cheeses are then placed on edge on racks, and they are cleaned every 2 or
3 weeks by scraping and bru****ng. The curing period is 2 to 5 months,
depending on the extent of ripening desired. When ripened sufficiently,
the cheeses are cleaned, wrapped in tinfoil, and boxed. They may be
stored at a temperature of 40F. The yield of cured cheese is said to be
nearly 20 percent of the weight of milk used.
Analysis: Moisture, 38.5 to 41 percent (not more than45 percent); fat,
32.2 percent; fat in the solids, not less than 50 percent; protein, 21.1
percent;
ash, 6.1 percent; and salt (in the ash), 4.1 percent.
USDA Agr Handbook No. 54, Cheese Varieties and Descriptions,
George P. Sanders, issued December 1953
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