Mold Gold

Roquefort cheese

Moldy food is not always the best candidate for the trash bin. Sometimes, it's precisely the mold that makes something taste good.

The original Casanova once called a moldy, creamy cheese his favorite aphrodisiac.

It was love that helped a young shepherd in Roquefort, a village in southern France, discover this Casanova favorite centuries ago. Unfortunately, the shepherd discovered this green gold too late to entice his own sweetheart.

Legend has it that the young shepherd was watching his flock near the caves of Roquefort when suddenly the most beautiful woman he had ever seen appeared on the grassy hill. He approached her but she wasn't about to test her chances with this young man and ran. But he pursued her in an impassioned fit, leaving his flock. This continued for days, but the young man never caught up with her. Days later the shepherd returned to his cave in Roquefort broken-hearted and hungry. To his dismay, the slice of cheese and bread he had left in the musty cave was covered with dark green mold. Ravenous with hunger he ate it anyway. Surprisingly, the cheese had a captivating pungent flavor to it that he had never tasted before. He shared the information with others and they started figuring out how to make the cheese.

There are similar blue cheeses like Roquefort produced in different countries under different names; England makes Stilton, Spain produces Cabrales and you can find Maytag Blue from Iowa. Today, Roquefort is still produced much as the young shepherd's version. Bread is induced with spores from mushrooms that grow in the caves of Roquefort, and then left until it has grown into a fungus called penicillium roqueforti. This penicillium powder is added to vats of sheep's milk which curdles, and is molded into large white rounds of cheese. The rounds are then aged in the caves under the supervision of master cheese makers, finally emerging after three months ready for market.

If you visit the town of Roquefort, I highly recommend the tour at Société, one of only seven producers of Roquefort. The hour-long Société tour costs three euros and is surprisingly entertaining, informative and includes a tasting of the three Société Roquefort cheeses. You can keep all cheese for about three months in the fridge without a problem. Cheese gets more flavorful as it ages and normally the older it is, the better it is by French standards.

And if you want to get the sense of what the young shepherd must have gone through to chase his lover, you can also climb the cliff behind Roquefort. There is a hike that leaves from the tourism office. The views of the hills, cliffs and plateaus that make-up the surrounding countryside are stunning. You’ll burn almost enough calories on this hike to justify eating a quarter round of Roquefort for the next three months.

View from the hike.