A raw cow's milk blue cheese aged in the natural limestone caves of the Causses plateaus in the southern Massif Central — the same caves that ripen Roquefort, but using cow's rather than sheep's milk. AOC granted in 1953 — one of the earliest blue-cheese AOCs.
Bleu des Causses is a raw cow's milk blue cheese of the Causses — the limestone plateaus of the southern Massif Central, in Aveyron, Lot, and Lozere. Wikipedia documents its production as ancient in origin and records its AOC status as granted in 1949. The defining feature is aging in the natural limestone caves of the Causses using cow's milk and the same Penicillium roqueforti mold as Roquefort. The minimum affinage is seventy days.
A wedge of Bleu des Causses shows a pale ivory paste threaded with strong blue-green veining. The texture is creamy and crumbly; the flavor is sharp, peppery, and earthy with a distinct minerality from the limestone caves.
Bleu des Causses rests on the same Penicillium roqueforti mold as Roquefort, but on cow's milk, and the natural limestone-cave aging. The mold is added to raw cow's milk; the wheel is pierced with needles to open air channels, allowing the mold to grow internally. The crucial step is aging in the natural caves of the Causses: the porous limestone holds near-constant cool temperature and high humidity, the regime that P. roqueforti needs to flourish.
Variations
Made only from raw cow's milk on the Causses; the limestone-cave aging and the blue veining are the constants.
On the Palate
Where Bleu des Causses sits in the French flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 15How it's made
6 steps · 50 min
- 130 min
Collect raw cow's milk from the Causses zone; warm and add starter, blue mold, and rennet.
- 230 min
Cut the curd, lightly press into cylindrical molds, and drain.
- 315 min
Salt the wheels and move to the natural limestone caves.
- 415 min
After a few days, pierce the wheels with needles to open air channels.
Watch outPierce the wheels to open air channels so the mold can grow inward — without these paths the blue stays only at the surface.
- 560 min
Age in the caves for a minimum of seventy days.
Watch outAge in the cool, humid limestone caves at least seventy days — that steady damp cold is the exact regime P. roqueforti needs to flourish.
- 65 min
Release when the veining is well developed.
