Roquefort

According to legend, Roquefort cheese was discovered when a youth, eating his lunch of bread and ewes' milk cheese, saw a beautiful girl in the distance. Abandoning his meal in a nearby cave, he ran to meet her. When he returned a few months later, the mold (Penicillium roqueforti) had transformed his plain cheese into Roquefort.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/bw/stories/2001-12-30/something-is-rotten-in-roquefort|title=Something is rotten in Roquefort|magazine=Business Week|date=31 December 2001}}{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D06EFDA143BF930A15755C0A964948260&sec=health|title=Blue-veined Cheeses : The expanding choices|newspaper=New York Times|date=23 June 1982 | first=Florence | last=Fabricant | access-date=22 May 2010}}

In 79 AD, Pliny the Elder praised the cheeses of Lozère and Gévaudan and reported their popularity in ancient Rome; in 1737, Jean Astruc suggested that this was a reference to an ancestor of Roquefort.Jean Astruc (1737). Memoires pour l'histoire naturel de la province de Languedoc. Paris: Guillaume Cavelier. p. 55. [https://books.google.com/books?id=gLhUAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA55 full text] Pliny, Natural History, Book 11, chapter 97 [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book=11:chapter=97&highlight=Lesura full text]. The theory was widely taken up, and by the 1860s was being promoted by the Société des Caves.Nelleke Teughels, Peter Scholliers, A Taste of Progress: Food at International and World Exhibitions in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, {{ISBN|1317186435}}, p. 186 Others have dismissed the idea, on the grounds that Pliny does not clearly identify a blue cheese.Howard Belton (2015). A History of the World in Five Menus. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse. p. 9. [https://books.google.com/books?id=qu97BwAAQBAJ&pg=PT21 online text]. There is no clear consensus on the meaning of Pliny's description—it has been variously interpreted as a reference to fromage frais, cheese pickled in grape-juice, and even fondue,Abbé Pascal (1854). "Notice sur le fromage de la Lozère". Mende: Ignon. pp. 84–87 [https://books.google.com/books?id=k4AFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA84 online text]. George Cuvier and J.B.F.S. Ajasson de Grandsagne (1828). Caii Pilinii Secundi Historiæ Naturalis. Paris: Lemaire. pt. 3. vol. 4 p. 568, n. 3 [https://books.google.com/books?id=uVJcAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA568 online text]. as well as a reference to Roquefort.

By the middle ages, Roquefort had become a recognized cheese. On 4 June 1411, Charles VI granted a monopoly for the ripening of the cheese to the people of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon as they had been doing for centuries.{{cite book | last1=Masui | first1=Kazuko | last2=Yamada |first2=Tomoko | title = French Cheeses

| publisher = Dorling Kindersley

|year=1996 | page=178

| isbn = 0-7513-0896-X}}{{cite book|title=The Oxford Companion to Cheese|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pRrGDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT237|access-date=2 June 2018|year=2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0199330904|page=237}}

By 1820, Roquefort was producing 300 tonnes a year, a figure that steadily increased throughout the next century so that by 1914 it was 9,250.{{cite book|first=Colin Duncan|last=Taylor|title=Menu from the Midi: A Gastronomic Journey through the South of France|year=2021|publisher=Matador |language=English| isbn= 978-1800464964}}

In 1925, the cheese was the recipient of France's first Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée when regulations controlling its production and naming were first defined.{{Cite web |url=http://www.roquefort.fr/en/news/discovering/the-cheese/origins/ |title=Roquefort: Origins |website=www.roquefort.fr |access-date=19 May 2019 |archive-date=21 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190921193607/http://www.roquefort.fr/en/news/discovering/the-cheese/origins/ |url-status=dead }} In 1961, in a landmark ruling that removed imitation, the Tribunal de Grande Instance at Millau decreed that, although the method for the manufacture of the cheese could be followed across the south of France, only those cheeses whose ripening occurred in the natural caves of Mont Combalou in Roquefort-sur-Soulzon were permitted to bear the name Roquefort.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=us6pBFbdb3UC&pg=PA17 |title=Labels of Origin for Food: Local Development, Global Recognition |editor-last=Barham |editor-first=Elizabeth |editor2-last=Sylvander |editor2-first=Bertil |publisher=CABI |year=2011 |isbn=978-1845933777 |page=17}}

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Roquefort is made entirely from the milk of the Lacaune breed of sheep. Prior to the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) regulations of 1925, a small amount of cow's or goat's milk was sometimes added. Around {{convert|4.5|L|USgal|frac=8|abbr=on}} of milk is required to make one kilogram of Roquefort.

Roquefort is produced throughout the département of Aveyron and part of the nearby départements of Aude, Lozère, Gard, Hérault and Tarn.{{cite web|url=http://www.inao.gouv.fr/public/produits/showTexte.php?ID_TEXTE_CONSOLIDE=791|title=AOC Roquefort|publisher=INAO|access-date=22 November 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170306193150/http://www2.inao.gouv.fr/public/produits/showTexte.php?ID_TEXTE_CONSOLIDE=791|archive-date=6 March 2017|url-status=dead}} {{As of|2009}}, there are seven Roquefort producers. The largest-volume brand by far is {{ill|Roquefort Société|fr|Société (marque)}} made by the Société des Caves de Roquefort,{{cite web|url= http://www.roquefort-societe.com/anglais/index.html|title= Roquefort Société|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090205025429/http://www.roquefort-societe.com/anglais/index.html|archive-date= 5 February 2009}} since 1990 a subsidiary of Lactalis.https://www.lactalis.com/en/the-group/the-groups-history/ Other producers are Papillon, Carles, {{ill|Gabriel Coulet|fr|Gabriel Coulet (marque)}}, {{ill|Fromageries occitanes|fr|Les Fromageries occitanes}}, Vernières and Le Vieux Berger.

Around three million cheeses were made in 2005 (18,830 tons) making it, after Comté, France's second-most-popular cheese. Roquefort has a high content of free glutamate, 1,280 mg per 100 g of cheese.{{cite news |last=Renton |first=Alex |date=10 July 2005 |title=If MSG is so bad for you... |url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly/story/0,,1522368,00.html |access-date=22 May 2010 |newspaper=The Observer |location=London}}

The mold that gives Roquefort its distinctive character (Penicillium roqueforti) is found in the soil of the local caves. Traditionally, the cheesemakers extracted it by leaving bread in the caves for six to eight weeks until it was consumed by the mold. The interior of the bread was then dried to produce a powder. In modern times, the mold can be grown in a laboratory, which allows for greater consistency. The mold may either be added to the curd or introduced as an aerosol through holes poked in the rind.{{cn|date=June 2022}}

The regional cuisine in and around Aveyron includes many Roquefort-based recipes for main-course meat sauces, savory tarts and quiches, pies, and fillings.[http://www.roquefort.fr/decouvrir/le-fromage/gastronomie.html Gastronomie du roquefort sur le site roquefort.fr.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100212170932/http://www.roquefort.fr/decouvrir/le-fromage/gastronomie.html |date=12 February 2010 }} Consulté le 25 décembre 2009.

The {{lang|fr|Appellation d'origine contrôlée}} regulations that govern the production of Roquefort have been laid down over a number of decrees by the INAO. These include:

1. All milk used must be delivered at least 20 days after lambing has taken place.
2. The sheep must be on pasture, whenever possible, in an area that includes most of Aveyron and parts of neighboring departments. At least 75% of any grain or fodder fed must come from the area.
3. The milk must be whole, raw (not heated above {{convert|34|°C|°F|abbr=on|disp=sqbr}}), and unfiltered except to remove macroscopic particles.
4. The addition of rennet must occur within 48 hours of milking.
5. The Penicillium roqueforti used in the production must be produced in France from the natural caves of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon.
6. The salting process must be performed using dry salt.
7. The whole process of maturation, cutting, packaging and refrigeration of the cheese must take place in the commune of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon.

Penicillium roqueforti does not produce penicillin.{{cite journal|doi=10.3168/jds.S0022-0302(54)91388-0|title=Assay of Various Mold-Ripened Cheeses for Antibiotic Activity|journal=Journal of Dairy Science|volume=37|issue=10|pages=1184–1189|year=1954|last1=Wilkowske|first1=H.H.|last2=Krienke|first2=W.A.|doi-access=free}} However, due to the presence of other anti-inflammatory proteins, it was common in country districts for shepherds to apply this cheese to wounds to avoid gangrene.{{cite book |title=The Science of Cheese |last1=Hughes |first1=Tunick |last2=Michael |year=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK |isbn=978-0199922307 |page=109}}

The presence of anti-inflammatory compounds was confirmed by a 2012 study.{{cite web|year=2012|publisher=LiveScience|title=Say Cheese! Roquefort May Keep Hearts Healthy|url=http://www.livescience.com/25622-roquefort-cheese-health.html}} A study from 2013 found that proteins from Roquefort cheese inhibit chlamydia propagation and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) leukocyte migration.{{cite journal|journal=ScientificWorldJournal|doi=10.1155/2013/140591|title=Roquefort cheese proteins inhibit Chlamydia pneumoniae propagation and LPS-induced leukocyte migration|year=2013|pmid=23737705|pmc=3655667|volume=2013|pages=140591|last1=Petyaev|first1=Ivan M.|last2=Zigangirova|first2=Naylia A.|last3=Kobets|first3=Natalie V.|last4=Tsibezov|first4=Valery|last5=Kapotina|first5=Lydia N.|last6=Fedina|first6=Elena D.|last7=Bashmakov|first7=Yuriy K.|doi-access=free }}

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