The Secret Behind Roquefort – my Favorite Cheese

The secret behind Roquefort cheese can be found in the fields. Lacaune sheep, whose milk is used for the cheese, graze on hillsides that are literally rampant with herbs. These herbs impart their flavor to the ewes’ milk. Each ewe yields only 16 gallons per season.

Milk used for the blue-veined Roquefort comes from sheep bred in and around Roquefort-sur-Soulzon.

Roquefort-sur-Soulzon is a commune that had only 567 permanent residents in 2017 and according to the French National Institute of Statistics, that number has been steadily declining. The economy thrives on its production of sheep breeding for the milk they produce.

According to legend,

….a young shepherd boy was eating his lunch (ewe’s milk curd on rye bread) at the opening of a hillside cave. Seeing a beautiful young shepherdess in the distance he ran to meet her, abandoning his bread and cheese.

Having a futile search, he returned to the cave some time later (some legends say months, others he searched a few weeks). Upon returning to the cave, he discovered the moldy bread had instilled the blue vein in the cheese. And roquefort was born. (source : university professor in Angers France)

By the time the Romans arrived in this area, the hillside caves were in full use for ripening the Roquefort cheese. Today, the foil label stamped with a red sheep assures you that this cheese comes from the milk of the Lacaune sheep and two month old bread.

roquefort red sheep label

The Largest Producer of Roquefort

La Société is the largest producer of Roquefort cheese. It produces 70% of the world’s supply. France exports only 30% of this quantity. It was established in 1842, almost 170 years ago !

The most recent figure I have found thus far is that France produces approximately 19,000 tons of Roquefort cheese annually.

roquefort cheese

Appelation d’Origine Protégée

In addition, just like French wines, French cheeses earn an AOP designation which protects the designation of origin, Appelation d’Origine Protégée. This distinction honors culture, tradition and terroir. It guarantees that the milk that cheese producers source comes from the same region that makes and matures the cheese .

AOP label

For this reason, they collect the sheep’s milk from local farms found in the Aveyron, its neighboring departments, as well as the two parks Parc Naturel du Haut Languedoc and Parc Naturel des Grands Causses.

Bleu d’Auvergne

The Auvergne, to the east, also produces a blue-veined cheese called Bleu d’Auvergne. It is saltier than Roquefort but made in much the same tradition but with cow’d milk instead of sheep’s milk. When we were in this area we stumbled across a set of abandoned cheese caves. We had to assume that those with locked doors were still in use.