Cheese

On the plateaus of southwestern France sheep are raised mainly for their milk. This milk is used to make one the world's most famous cheeses, Roquefort. The village Roquefort has been center of the cheese industry for hundreds of years.

The making of Roquefort cheese takes over three months. It begins on the farms around the village .there the ships milk is poured into large vats made of stainless steel. Pennet, another product of the sheep, is added. This causes the milk to curdle, or thicken. At the same time, a blue powdered mold called penicillium Roquefort is added. This will help give the cheese its own special flavor.

Then the curdled milk is taken out of the vat it is now a form of raw cheese. This raw cheese is placed in stainless steel forms. Small holes in these forms permit the water in the cheese to drain out. After draining for few minutes, one form is placed upside down on top of another form.
In two or three days, so much moisture has drained that the raw cheese has become a single loaf in the bottom form. The top form is now empty. And now the bottom forms are ready for the next stage in the process.
Then the loaf is placed in conveyor belt. The cheese passes under a machine that punches about twenty five tiny holes into it. This allows air to reach the penicillum Roquefort mold, so that it's living micro organism can now grow.

The next stage is unusual one. It helps give Roquefort its unique flavor and texture.
Near the village of Roquefort its unique flavor and texture.

Near the village of Roquefort are many caves. They have been there since prehistoric times. Like most caves, they are damp and cool. The forms of raw cheese are taken to these caves. There the cheese is lightly salted on the outside and left for three months to ripen. It is undisturbed, except when inspectors come to see how it is ripening. The inspectors insert a small tube into each loaf. They remove about an eighth of an ounce of the ripening cheese for examination. This cheese is then returned to the loaf. Three things make Roquefort an unusual and very popular kind of a cheese. One is that it is made from sheep's milk. This, more than anything, supplies its distinctive flavor. Most cheese is made from cow's milk. The addition of the pencilium mold is important. And the curing of the cheese in the musty caves is the third significant feature.

Once the cheese has spent its three months in caves, it is ready for the market. It is packaged and shipped to all parts of the world. It has brought fame to the village which gave it the Roquefort. And it continues to bring joy to cheese lovers everywhere.

Edward Ombaka Adeny