UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



jru^^^y*. 



k BULLETIN No. 970 



Contribution from the Bureau of Animal Industry 

 JOHN R. MOHLER, Chief 



SLfy'^^f'^L. 



Washington, D. C. 



August 29, 1921 



MANUFACTURE OF COWS'-MILK ROQUEFORT 



CHEESE. 



By K. J. Matheson, Dairy Manufacturing Specialist, Dairy Division. 



The manufacture of imported Roquefort 



Composition and characteristics of Roquefort 



Composition of sheep's milk 



The manufacture of cows'-milk Roquefort. . . 

 Preparation of mold powder for inoculation. 



Ripening the cheese 



Equipment for curing Roquefort 



CONTENTS. 



Page, j Page. 



2 Phenomena of ripening 20 



3 Losses in curing 23 



G Use of tin foil 24 



(i Cost of manufacture 2.j 



9 I PossibiUties for domestic Roquefort 2(i 



1 7 i Summary 27 ' 



18 



Restricted importations of foreign cheese during the war period 

 increased the price of these products and created a demand for 

 information concerning their manufacture. Numerous attempts 

 have been made to manufacture, in the United States, some varie- 

 ties of foreign cheese, of which 63,000,000 pounds were imported 

 by this country during 1914. Success has attended the making of 

 some of these kinds of cheese; attempts to make others have resulted 

 in absokite failure. 



For several years "the Dairy Division, Bureau of Animal Industry, 

 conducted experimental work to develop a method of manufacture 

 whereby at least one of the green-mold varieties of cheese, all of 

 which bring high prices, could be made in the United States. As a 

 result of the work this paper gives information on the manufacture 

 of domestic Roquefort cheese from cows' milk, likewise some of the 

 difficulties that may be encountered in manufacturing cows'-milk 

 Roquefort cheese. 



Rocjuefort is one of the highest-priced cheeses on the American 

 market. It is a French mold-ripened cheese made from sheep's 

 milk and has been known for 20 centuries. Pliny,' in his book on 

 natural history, referred to this cheese, or cheese of this type, as 



' riine L'Aiicien (Pliny the Elder). Histoire iiaturelle, Book XI, chapter 97 (42). 



49195'- 21-Bull. 970 1 



