The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-02-21
HOW FocorEFoRT is MA DE.

rIoAu tue tAfcdSo news.
Gut OF Rocquefort, a little village of
eight hundred souls, situated in the de-
partment of Aveyren, southern France,
the world gets its Rocquefort cheese.
Ii you take a train-or better, as we
did, bike-at Bezieres and journey to
station Tournemire, on the road to
Ciermont Ferrand, you fnd Yourself at
the foothills of Rocquefort. If you
look up the mountain side you will see
Rocquefort perched above some cliffs.
In the mountains is huge cave. and
IN TINS cave all the cheese made in the
neigh borhood, as well as much from
the departments of Lozere, Herault,
Gard and Tarn, is prepared. There is
no other such cave, no such cheese as
Rocquefort, for the cave it is and no
special skill of man OF woman that
gives Rocquefort its peculiarities of
taste and color.
shepherd lad. so runs the legend,
left quite large piece of bread and
cheese, prepared from the milk of his
own goats in this cavern Returning
some time afterward he found, to his
surprise, that his cheese not only was
not dried up or rotted but tasted better
than before. Besides, the bread
crumbs left IN contact with the cheese
caused the greenish-blue veins found
now in the famous cheese. The vii.
layers, told of this result, tested its
truth with results very satisfactory.
AS far back as 1910 Rocquefort's cheese
was famous, and it is mentioned in
many ancient chronicles. The worth
of the cavern to the little village will
be seen in the yearly production, up.
wards Of ten million pounds.
Rochefort or Rocquefort is prepared
from Sleeps milk exclusively, and
goats or cows milk may make good
cheeses but they won't make Roche.
fort. The sheep are named Larzares
and originally belong in the high ia BILE
lands or plateaus which border the
farm. They eat little, are easily salts
fed and yield a per capita yearly thirty.
five to forty-five pounds of cheese.
The lambs are not left long with their
dams, but are either sold, brought up
on the bottle or by other sheep. The
sheep are milked morning and evening.
The milk, as soon as it is taken from
the sheep, is Immediately placed over
the fire and heated almost but never
quite up to the boiling point Other.
wise the milk curds are treated as in
the preparation of other cheeses, ex.
cept that little crust-crumbs of bread
are mixed with it to produce the blue
veins alluded to above. It Is not true,
as sometimes urged, that this color
comes from Alpine herbs.
After the cheese is made it is put into
rooms to dry. AS soon as certain de.
gree of dryness is reached it is removed
to the cave. Here it gets those little
touches that make it Rocquefort against
all the worlds art. Why? How? No.
body knows. Except this-the cave is
ali the year round. in tempera.
ture, and has air drafts running in it
from January to January. 1t is sup
posed that the temperature is due to
openings into subterranean caves, and
the most air to water of some under.
ground sea. At all events, some very
happy natural combination gives the |
peculiar results, and no efforts of art
have ever even partially succeeded in |
attaining them. If the temperature |
the fermentation would |
change; if the moisture was more it
would make the cheese so soft that il
would not keep together, and if less
the cheese would be too dry.
The cave is owned by joint stock
company. This company buys the
cheese from peasants and farmers for
fifty or one hundred miles around. OF
course great care must be taken in pre-
pairing, and only experts in testing are
sent out to buy. The cave is fitted up
with oak shelves, on which the cheeses
are placed. In this way it has been SO
utilized that siXty-five thousa nd square
Yards of surface have been obtained.
During the six months that it takes to
make the cheese it has to pass through
many processes First of all, it must
be rubbed for three days with fine salt,
md as often as the melted salt, min.
Cling with the cheese. makes a mass OF
'oft matter this is scraped away 1t il
hen taken to a machine filed with
needles and run by steam. Here it is
,ricked full of little holes, into which
lfterward the air of the cave pen.
.trates. All the work is done BY WON.
N, who, besides bed and board. get
me hundred dollars to one hundred
md twenty-five dollars a year The ,
ave is so cold and damp that the
women must wear woolens winter and 1
ummer. 1t Is curious sight in sum.
ner to see these women clad as one !
inds women clad only in northern lati. {
udes in winter.
The people are clean, hospitable and q
-ood-natured They have only very
ague notion, however. of what the
world thinks OF their cheese. They
now it is good, they prepare it be- I
ause it is the only means of prosperi
y. The Paris prices, however, OF c
hose of London, Chicago and New r
York appear to them absolutely in q
Incredible. There is rugged rustici- Q
y among the hills. The people are
imple as the peasants of Palestine in q
ne times of Christ. They take of @
heir hats and bow their heads as Mil Il
1t has told US in ibis beautiful picture
the angelus-- J
CURIOSITIEs OF THE CALENDAR. @