Mon Dieux, Mon Bleu (fromage that is!!)

Close by to Millau - see previous blog - is a very small village with a very famous name: Roquefort sur Soulzon - yes folks it is the home of the famous Roquefort blue vein cheese. And there was no way a visit would be omitted! So after wandering the streets of Millau and looking over, under and along the Millau bridge viaduct, we drove over to Roquefort. It is a very picturesque village nestled in amongst the white limestone cliffs of the Causses. For those who don't know about Roquefort, here are some excerpts from my local Michelin guide:
"Above the town of Roquefort, which lies at the foot of the cliff, is a little limestone plateau known as "Combalou", the north-east side of which collapsed when it slipped on its clay substratum. These special conditions gave rise to natural caves between the displaced rocks, in which temperature and humidity are constant and ideal for curing cheese....." The Roquefort mould, or penicillium, comes from the caves at Combalou.
"Legend has it that, one day, a shepherd and his sweetheart met in one of the Combalou caves; when they left, the shepherd forgot his bag containing a piece of rye bread and some ewe's milk cheese. A few days later he met his sweetheart in the same cave and found his bag with the bread and cheese still inside; however, the cheese was covered with greenish blue mould, its smell and taste were different, but the two lovers found it delicious!"
"Strict boundaries define the area of production of ewe's milk and the region of caves in which Roquefort cheese is matured. French law decrees that only ewe's milk cheese produced within these boundaries may be labelled Roquefort". Yes folks French cheese has its appellation controllee or appellation d'origine, similar to the production and labelling controls on its wine. Roquefort is one of the oldest appellation controlled cheeses in France and dates back to Roman times.
Because it was now late in the afternoon, we did not have time to visit one of the farms where the cheese is first produced, but we did join the hundreds of other milling tourists to visit one of the larger caves where they give you an excellent guided tour, let you see (behind glass walls) the millions of maturing cheeses, and give you a generous free tasting of several varieties of Roquefort. We went to the Roquefort Societe caves, so if you see their label at a cheese stall in Melbourne (it is a green oval with their name in white writing - and no I did not choose this company because of the green label - it was the first place we could find parking available!) - you will know that it is genuine and highly recommended. I said several varieties, because they make mild, strong, aromatic, creamy, etc, etc versions of Roquefort. At the tasting they had toothpick sized samples of each cut up and served on separate plates and you could just stand there and gorge yourselves. I have to say we each had several tries of each variety. You do have to be sure which one you prefer!!!!
Unfortunately we were not allowed to take any photos in the caves, so you will have to take our word for it that we did see and sample lots of cheese.
I might also add that while typing this, we are eating a lovely lunch of Roquefort, my favourite chevre (a very creamy goats cheese with red currants and blueberries), some duck sausiccons, a fresh baquette and the remains of the lovely lamb casserole Alan cooked last night. I also made an excellent cheese sauce the other night using Roquefort and Comte, a firmer yellowish cows milk cheese. As you can see, Roquefort has now truly established itself in our food repertoire!