Editing Roquefort

{{Short description|French blue cheese}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2019}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Infobox cheese
| name = Roquefort
| image = [[File:Wikicheese - Roquefort - 20150417 - 003.jpg|265px]]<br>Roquefort<br>[[File:Roquefort.jpg|265px]]<br>Texture of Roquefort
| othernames =
| country = [[France]]
| region = [[Aveyron]]
| town = [[Roquefort-sur-Soulzon]]
| source = [[Sheep|Ewe (sheep)]]
| pasteurised = No
| texture = Semi-hard
| fat =
| protein =
| dimensions =
| weight =
| aging = 5 months
| certification = [[Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée|AOC]]: 1925<ref name=inao/>
}}
'''Roquefort''' ({{IPA|fr|ʁɔkfɔʁ|-|LL-Q150 (fra)-Mecanautes-roquefort.wav}}) is a [[sheep milk]] [[blue cheese]] from [[southern France]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Gastronomie!: Food Museums and Heritage Sites of France |last1=Hughes |first1=Tom |last2=Hughes |first2=Meredith Sayles |year=2005 |publisher=Bunker Hill Publishing |location=Piermont, NH |isbn= 1-59373-029-2 |page=19}}</ref> Though similar cheeses are produced elsewhere, [[European Union law|EU law]] dictates that only those cheeses aged in the natural Combalou caves of [[Roquefort-sur-Soulzon]] may bear the name Roquefort, as it is a recognised [[geographical indication]], and has a [[protected designation of origin]].

Roquefort is white, tangy, creamy and slightly moist, with veins of blue [[Mold (fungus)|mold]]. It has a characteristic fragrance and flavor with a taste of [[butyric acid]]; the blue veins provide a sharp tang. It has no rind; the exterior is edible and slightly salty. A typical wheel weighs between 2.5 and 3kg (5.5 to 6.6lbs), and is about {{convert|10|cm|in|frac=2|abbr=on}} thick. Each kilogram of finished cheese requires about 4.5 liters<!--do not convert: this is a ratio, not an absolute weight--> of milk to produce. In France, Roquefort is often called the "king of cheeses" or the "cheese of kings", although those names [[King of Cheeses|are also used for other cheeses]].<ref name="bw" />

==History==
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.<ref name=bw>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref>

In 79&nbsp;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.<ref>[[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 (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].</ref> The theory was widely taken up, and by the 1860s was being promoted by the ''Société des Caves''.<ref>Nelleke Teughels, Peter Scholliers, ''A Taste of Progress: Food at International and World Exhibitions in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries'', {{ISBN|1317186435}}, p. 186</ref> Others have dismissed the idea, on the grounds that Pliny does not clearly identify a blue cheese.<ref>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].</ref> 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 [[Must|grape-juice]], and even [[fondue]],<ref>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].</ref> as well as a reference to Roquefort.

By the middle ages, Roquefort had become a recognized cheese. On 4 June 1411, [[Charles VI of France|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.<ref name=masui>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{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 }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

==Production==
[[File:Brebis lacaune.jpg|thumb|250px|A Lacaune flock in France]]
[[File:Elevage-drone-1.png|thumb|A Roquefort farm in Southern France]]
[[File:Traite-lait.png|thumb|Sheep being milked for Roquefort production]]
Roquefort is made entirely from the milk of the [[Lacaune (sheep)|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.<ref name=masui/>

Roquefort is produced throughout the ''[[département]]'' of [[Aveyron]] and part of the nearby ''départements'' of [[Aude]], [[Lozère]], [[Gard]], [[Hérault]] and [[Tarn (department)|Tarn]].<ref name=inao>{{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}}</ref> {{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'',<ref>{{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}}</ref> since 1990 a subsidiary of [[Lactalis]].<ref>https://www.lactalis.com/en/the-group/the-groups-history/</ref> 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 (cheese)|Comté]], France's second-most-popular cheese.<ref name="masui" /> Roquefort has a high content of free [[Glutamic acid|glutamate]], 1,280&nbsp;mg per 100 g of cheese.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

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 [[Particulate|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.<ref name="Roquefortadvice">[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.</ref>

===AOC regulations===
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:<ref name=inao/>
#All milk used must be delivered at least 20 days after lambing has taken place.
#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.
#The milk must be whole, raw (not heated above {{convert|34|°C|°F|abbr=on|disp=sqbr}}), and unfiltered except to remove macroscopic particles.
#The addition of [[rennet]] must occur within 48 hours of milking.
#The ''Penicillium roqueforti'' used in the production must be produced in France from the natural caves of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon.
#The salting process must be performed using dry salt.
#The whole process of maturation, cutting, packaging and refrigeration of the cheese must take place in the commune of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon.

==Health benefits==
''Penicillium roqueforti'' does not produce [[penicillin]].<ref>{{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}}</ref> However, due to the presence of other anti-inflammatory proteins,<ref name=":0" /> it was common in country districts for shepherds to apply this cheese to wounds to avoid [[gangrene]].<ref>{{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}}</ref>

The presence of [[anti-inflammatory]] compounds was confirmed by a 2012 study.<ref>{{cite web|year=2012|publisher=LiveScience|title=Say Cheese! Roquefort May Keep Hearts Healthy|url=http://www.livescience.com/25622-roquefort-cheese-health.html}}</ref> A study from 2013 found that proteins from Roquefort cheese inhibit [[Chlamydia infection|chlamydia]] propagation and [[lipopolysaccharide]] (LPS) leukocyte migration.<ref name=":0">{{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 }}</ref>

==See also==
{{Commons category|Roquefort (cheese)}}
*[[List of French cheeses]]
*[[List of cheeses]]
*[[Stilton cheese|Stilton]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{French cheeses}}
{{Blue cheeses}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Sheep's-milk cheeses]]
[[Category:Food product brands]]
[[Category:French products with protected designation of origin]]
[[Category:French cheeses]]
[[Category:Occitan cheeses]]
[[Category:Blue cheeses]]
[[Category:Massif Central]]
[[Category:Cheese with eyes]]