Bleu d'Auvergne
A creamy blue cheese from Auvergne with a milder, buttery taste.
Bleu d'Auvergne (Occitan: Blau d'Auvèrnhe) is a French blue cheese from the Auvergne region of south-central France, made from cow's milk. It is one of the cheeses granted the Appellation d'origine contrôlée by the French government. The cheese was developed in the mid-1850s by cheesemaker Antoine Roussel, who discovered that applying rye bread mold and pricking the curd with a needle could induce blue veining.
Quick Facts
- Region
- Auvergne
- Source
- Cow's milk
- Texture
- Soft
- Aging
- 2 months
- Certification
- AOC Auvergne 1975
Facts from the source article.
Manufacturing
Bleu d'Auvergne is now mostly made in industrial dairies, and as of 2018, just one farm still produces it in the original way. These dairies buy refrigerated raw cow's milk, which they often pasteurize. Whether raw or pasteurized, the milk gets mixed with Penicillium roqueforti or Penicillium glaucum to create the blue veins, and then rennet is added. Because pasteurized milk lacks the natural microbes of raw milk, it gets a small set of cultured microorganisms added back.
After the curd is cut and drained, it is stirred gently to coat each grain, which helps draining start at every particle, then it is put into molds to finish draining. Salting happens in two steps: salt goes on the flat sides first, then on the edges, slowly working into the paste. To let the blue mold grow, the cheese needs oxygen, so it is pierced with needles when it enters the aging cellar. By 2018, traditional knitting needles had been replaced by mechanical piercing systems that give even veining and a good yield.
The cheeses age for at least four weeks in cool, damp cellars, which gives them a creamy texture and full flavor. Making one Bleu d'Auvergne takes about 20 to 25 liters of milk and either Penicillium roqueforti or Penicillium glaucum.
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