Price per 100g
Unpasteurised sheep's milk and matured in the Roquefort caves.
Country of Origin: France
Milk Variety: Sheep's
Style of Cheese: Blue
Vegetarian?: No
Unpasteurised? Yes
Roquefort is considered to be one of the greatest blues in the world. It was mentioned by Pliny in AD 79, and has been protected since 1411. The cheese can only be made in the area surrounding Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, and with the local Lacaune breed of sheep. The caves situated around Roquefort (Grand Causses) provide the ideal conditions for maturing blue cheese - moist, cool and breezy. Roquefort will be aged here for around three months as its blue veining develops.
This Roquefort is made by the third generation of the Carles family. They started cheese-making in 1927, and remain one of the only family producers of Roquefort left in the region.
The flavour of the cheese is reminiscent of the air in the caverns where it ripens, and the mould grows naturally. This artisan variety, made in smaller batches with local milk and penicillin roqueforti cultured from rye loaves baked in-house, is round, deep and perfectly balanced: big, creamy chunks of the paste dissolve on the palate like sharp, soothing milky lozenges.