Crossing France we looked for attractive stops and found Roquefort, a village where the famous cheese comes from.
The weather was not ideal for outdoor activities, so visiting the caves of the cheese production was a good opportunity to escape the rain. We stayed at a parking for campers just next to the tourist information. From there, we had to walk through the rain into the village as parking possibilities are sparse closer to the centre.
On a guided tour, we saw some introductory videos and then went into the caves, which were naturally formed by a rockslide 1 million years ago. The good conditions for producing blue cheese are due to the ventilation through crevices. To ensure the perfect environment for the cheese to mature, this crevices are blocked by a door or opened up to leave the fresh air in.
To the cheese the Penicillium Roqueforti is added and it is punctured to let air in before it is placed on wooden racks in the cave for up to 25 days until the cheese is creamy and a greenish blue veining pervades it.
Finally we arrived at the tasting |
Of course we didn’t leave without a bag of smelly cheese |
The sheep said: “Take me home” – but I resisted 😉 |
Flower of the Day |