Roquefort

Roquefort takes its name from Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, a village in the Aveyron department of southern France, perched above the Combalou plateau. The name derives from Occitan roca fort, meaning strong rock. The rock itself is what matters: the plateau is honeycombed with natural ventilation shafts called fleurines that draw cool, humid air through the limestone caves below the village, maintaining a constant temperature of nine degrees Celsius year-round. The caves made the cheese. The cheese made the village famous.

The distinctive blue veins of Roquefort are produced by Penicillium roqueforti, a mould that thrives in the Combalou caves and which, in the traditional production, was cultivated on rye bread left to go mouldy in the cave mouths. A medieval origin legend — a shepherd distracted by a beautiful girl, leaving his cheese lunch in a cave, returning weeks later to find it transformed — is probably invented, but its longevity suggests that the actual discovery was similarly accidental and similarly total. You did not plan to create Roquefort; you created Roquefort by leaving milk in a particular place and waiting.

In 1411, Charles VI of France granted the village exclusive rights to the aging of Roquefort cheese — the first recorded food appellation in European history. In 1925, Roquefort became the first cheese to receive Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée status under modern French law. In 2003, it received Protected Designation of Origin under European Union regulations. The legal heritage protecting this cheese is older than the printing press.

Only seven producers are authorised to make Roquefort, all based in Roquefort-sur-Soulzon. The cheese must be made from raw milk from the Lacaune sheep, aged exclusively in the Combalou caves, and wrapped in tin foil that preserves its characteristic moisture. When the United States imposed tariffs on French luxury goods in 1999 — in a trade dispute over hormone-treated beef — Roquefort was placed on the list. The cheesemakers of a village of three hundred became briefly famous as a diplomatic flashpoint.