🧀 Bleu d'Auvergne

Bleu d'Auvergne is a French blue cheese with a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO, registered in 1996). According to the specification, it is made only from cow's milk coagulated with rennet; it is a blue-veined, unpressed, uncooked, fermented and salted cheese. ³

How it is made. The area is a list of communes in the centre-north of the Massif Central, in Cantal, Aveyron and Puy-de-Dôme among others. The milk may be raw, thermised or pasteurised. It is renneted at 30–34 °C and seeded with Penicillium roqueforti. The curd is cut, stirred and moulded, then drained without pressing for up to 72 hours, with turning. The cheese is salted on the whole surface by rubbing or sprinkling and pierced once, within 10 days of renneting, so that the mould can grow inside through the air channels. ³

Ripening. The cheese ripens in humid, cool, aired cellars: at least 15 days uncovered at 6–12 °C from piercing. It may be sold as Bleu d'Auvergne only from the 28th day after renneting. ³

Look and taste. The cheese is a flat cylinder 19–23 cm across and 8–11 cm high, weighing 2 to 3 kg. The rind is sound and not of a single uniform colour; it may carry white, grey, green, blue and black moulds. The paste is white to ivory, with evenly spread blue to green veining the size of a grain of wheat to a grain of maize; the texture is melting, creamy and fine. The taste is intense and characterful, with notes of blue cheese, undergrowth or even mushrooms, and may have a slight touch of salt and bitterness. Fat is at least 50% of dry matter. It may be sold in portions of any size. ³

Cows. The herd must be born and raised in the area; the base ration comes only from the area, grass makes up at least 70% of it on average, and grazing is compulsory for at least 150 days a year. According to the specification, the cheese appeared in the mid-19th century in Puy-de-Dôme, where Antoine Roussel introduced piercing; it was recognised as an appellation in 1975. ³

Who made it blue. The appellation's own sources credit Antoine Roussel, an Auvergnat who trained in a pharmacy in Rouen and in 1854 perfected a way to develop blue moulds, a method later shared among producers. Piercing still matters today: the channels let air in, and the mould needs air to grow. The name gained its appellation in 1975, and 4,762 tonnes were sold in 2020, from 1,305 milk producers. ³⁴⁵

Why it matters to you. A study following the cheese through ripening found that salt and calcium move between rind and core as the pH changes. At 34 days, 40 g gave about 25 % of the reference intake for calcium and 11 % of the adequate intake for vitamin B12, but salt was high at 2.87 %. So it suits small portions. Try it with sweet white wine or amber beer, at the end of a meal or in a sauce for steak. ⁴⁵⁶