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Roquefort, king of French cheese |
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Thursday, 23 August 2007 |
Two companies dominate the
Roquefort market. The smaller of
the two, Papillon, celebrated its
centenary last year. Paul Alric founded
the company in 1906, and it remained
in his family until 1998 when the
Fannes family took over. By that time,
it was producing 2,000 tonnes of
cheese per year.
The three styles of Roquefort
Roquefort has probably the
strictest Appellation Contrôlée of all
products. The milk must come from
the Lacaune sheep, which are milked
morning and evening from June to
December. The milking zone covers parts of
seven départements, but all the milk is taken
to a small area around Roquefort-sur-Soulzon
where the cheese is made and matured and
where Papillon, producer of 10% of the
world’s Roquefort, has its headquarters.
The hard bread which develops the
Penicillium Roqueforti mould is still made
on the premises without man-made
chemicals. This mould is the eventual blue
vein in the cheese. Three types of Roquefort
are produced. Two of them, the red and black
labels, have different maturation periods; the
longer the maturation, the bluer the cheese.
In the late 1970s, a third type was
introduced: the AB organic cheese.
Maturing Roquefort on racks in the cave
Papillon has recently introduced sheepmilk
versions of Brie, Camembert and
Crottin de Brebis, a cylinder-shaped cheese
similar to the goat-milk version with a small
amount of sheep-milk butter.
Hour-long visits to the cellars in English,
French or German can be arranged by calling
05 65 58 50 08.
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