1. A Blue Cheese in a Roquefort Style
(Two Methods)
Rubbing the out
side of the cheese
and molding
Fig.1 Cheese; from the Theatrum Sanitatis, Library Casanatense, Rome1.
1
Fig.137. Cheese; from the Theatrum Sanitatis, Library Casanatense, Rome, http://www.godecookery.com/
afeast/foods/foods.html
1

2. Fig.2 Cheese manufacture, 1390-1400, Illustration from "Tacuinum Sanitatis",
illuminated medical manual based on texts translated from Arabic into Latin, in the
collection of the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.2
Making a Blue Cheese in Period
This Blue Cheese is representative of a style of cheeses being made in France from the 1st
century. Roquefort, or similar style cheese, is mentioned in literature as far back as AD
79, when Pliny the Elder remarked upon its rich flavor. The Romans built the Via
Domitia, which linked France to Rome. The road allowed cheeses made in France to be
shipped to Rome easily. The upper class citizens of Rome soon fell in love with the
flavor of the cheeses made with the Roquefort blue-green molds and were willing to pay
a high price to have this special cheese.3 History also records that this Blue cheese also
found favor with the Emperor Charlemagne, who would have pack trains of mules bring
2
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, http://images.imagestate.com/Watermark/1276116.jpg
3
Masui, Kazuko; Tomoko Yamada,French Cheeses, Dorling Kindersley,1996, Pg.178, ISBN 0-7513-0896-
X, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roquefort_cheese
2

3. Roquefort to his court at Aix-la-Chapelle every Christmas. Also according to the research
of Robert Wernick the Knights Templar who once was in charge of the area near
Roquefort received payment from the local peasants in the form of cheese.4 In 1411
Charles the 6th granted a monopoly for the ripening of the cheese to the people of
Roquefort-sur-Soulzonas in France.5
Castelmagno is another variety of blue veined cheeses
from Italy. Notice what is commonly called “Cat’s Fur” growing on the cheese cloth
warped rounds. This is part of the process practiced for more than a 1000 years in France
for this style of cheese.
“Castelmagno is a blue-veined cheese or “erborinato” as Italians like to call these types of
cheeses. The blue veining is actually greener than blue, and for that reason they call it
“erborinato”, reminiscent of the color of herbs. The veins derive from a complete and
absolute natural process, the combination of milk and air. Castelmagno cheese has been
known in Piedmont since the 13th century, but the rest of Italy discovered it for the first
time in the 1970s. Historical records were found reporting the use of pastureland settled
by the Marquis of Saluzzo in 1277 that was in control of the production territory.”6
According to Albert Alric a present day producer of the Roquefort Cheese who was
interviewed by Robert Wernick© in 1980 for the February 1982 issue of Smithsonian
Magazine he relates the following story and how the cheese was born “…as in the days of
his youth, all hands were needed in the field in summer, and bread could not be baked
more than once every six weeks or so. If it is kept in cool hillside caves, bread tends to
get moldy after six weeks. But in a peasant community, it is sacrilege to throw away
bread, so the peasants went on doggedly eating it anyway until someone noticed that the
stale slices tasted better with cheese on them. And a day came when one of those
unknown geniuses who open up new pathways for mankind reasoned that instead of
taking the cheese to the mold he could take the mold to the cheese. He mixed some
moldy bread into the milk as it was coagulating. The result was something that not
only tasted better but lasted longer than ordinary cheese”.7
4
Wernick, Robert, “Roquefort”, Smithsonian Magazine, Feb. 1982,
www.robertwernick.com/articles/Roquefort.shtml
5
Masui, Kazuko; Tomoko Yamada,French Cheeses, Dorling Kindersley,1996, Pg.178, ISBN 0-7513-0896-
X, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roquefort_cheese
6
Italy’s Best Cheeses, http://www.travelingtoitaly.com/an-excellent-italian-cheese/ ,Gabriele’s Travels to
Italy
7
Wernick, Robert, “Roquefort”, Smithsonian Magazine, Feb. 1982,
www.robertwernick.com/articles/Roquefort.shtml
3

4. My cheeses are made in the Roquefort Style having a blue to green mold, having a strong
flavor, a creamy white to light yellow color, and a crumbly texture due to the way this
cheese is processed and pressed. I have used two methods to propagate the mold one
style is called a re-culture method; the second is with a modern culture called Penicillium
Roquefort.
Milk would have been collected twice a day (morning & evening) at the milking house to
be processed (fig.4 & 5). In period they would have left the milk to sit so the cream
would come to the top and then it would be skimmed off to make butter or to cook with.
The milk that was going to be used in cheese production would need to be warmed. One
method used was to sit the container of skimmed milk over night by the fire near the
hearth. When the milk was warmed enough the would add back cream from the next
mornings milking to act as a starter “My Lady of Middlesex makes excellent slipp-coat
Cheese of good morning milk, putting Cream to it. A quart of Cream is the proportion
she useth to as much milk, as both together make a large round Cheese of the
bigness of an ordinary Tart-plate, or cheese-plate; as big as an ordinary soft cheese, that
eh Market women sell for ten pence…”8
After the milk had warmed they needed added things like thistle and safflower juice, an
acid (vinegar or lemon juice), ale, or rennet9 to cause the milk to clabbered, and a milk
starter (a bacterial agent some times referred to as a live culture) was also added that
acted as an agent to help back down the proteins in the milk so that the milk solids out
separate out (the curds).10 One method in period for the source of a starter was to save a
small amount of milk from a previous batch of cheese before the rennet or agent was
added to cause the curd to separate from the whey.
The milk purchased for this project was a combination of common Whole Milk from
Wal-Mart and Raw Whole Milk that I low temperature pasteurized (The raw whole milk
that I used was low temperature pasteurized by me, then processed into the cheese). The
Raw milk came from free range Short Horn Milking Cows, and Belted Galloway which
was breeds known in the middle ages.
Medieval Method of making cheese:
“Take a gallon of milk from the cow, and seethe it, and when it doth seethe put thereunto
a quart or two of morning milk in fair cleansing pans in such place as no dust may fall
therein. This is for you clotted cream. The next morning take a quart of morning milk,
and seethe it, and put in a quart of cream thereunto, and when it doth seethe, take if off
the fire. Put it in a fair earthen pan, and let it stand until it be somewhat blood warm. But
first over night put a good quantity of ginger, rose water, and stir it together. Let it settle
8
The Project Gutenberg eBook “The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby”, www.gutenberg.org/files/16441, “To
make Silpp-coat cheese”
9
Arne Emil Christensen is Professor, Dr. Phil. at the University Museum of National Antiquities in Oslo,
author of this article (He specializes on shipbuilding history and craftsmanship in the Iron Age and the
Viking period), http://ezinearticles.com/?Dairy-Products-in-Anglo-Saxon-Times-%28Part-of-the-Anglo-
Saxon-Survival-Guide%29&id=3754387
10
Power, Eileen, The Goodman of Paris, New York, 1992, pg.169
4

5. overnight. The next day put it into your said blood warm milk to make your cheese
come.”
Fig 3 Dairymen and Cheese Sellers (Mid 13th C., San Marco, Venice)11
“Then put the curds in a fair cloth, with a little good rose water, fine powder of ginger,
and a little sugar. So lash great soft rolls together with a thread and crush out the whey
with your clotted cream. Mix it with fine powder of ginger, and sugar and so sprinkle it
with rose water, and put your cheese in a fair dish. And put these clots around about it.
Then take a pint of raw milk or cream and put it in a pot, and all to shake it until it be
gathered into a froth like snow. And ever as it cometh, take it off with a spoon and put
into a colander. There put it upon your fresh cheese, and prick it with wafers, and so
serve it.”12
11
At the Table of the Monks: Cheese, Of Course (Part V)
http://gherkinstomatoes.com/2009/05/22/at-the-table-of-the-monks-cheese-of-course-part-v/
12
Dawson, Thomas, The Good Housewife’s Jewel, Southover Press, 1996, pg.17~18
5

6. Fig.4 Women had charge of the domestic animals including milking, butter making, and
cheese making production. (Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 764, fol. 44)13
Columella on Cheese Making:
"Cheese should be made of pure milk which is as fresh as possible....It should usually be
curdled with rennet obtained from a lamb or kid, though it can also be coagulated with
the flower of the wild thistle or the seeds of the safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), and
equally well with the liquid which flows from a Fig-tree...".
"A pail when it has been filled with milk should always be kept at some degree of heat: it
should not however be brought into contact with the flames....but should be put to stand
not far from the fire..."
"...when the liquid had thickened, it should immediately be transferred to wicker vessels
or baskets or moulds..."
"...the method of making what we call "hand pressed" cheese is the best-known of all:
when the milk is slightly congealed in the pail and still warm it is broken up and hot
water is poured over it, and then it is either shaped by hand or else pressed into box-wood
moulds." (fig.2)14
Supplies:
Modern stainless steel was used for health and safety reasons.
13
Hanawalt, Barbara, A., The Ties That Bound – Peasant Families in Medieval England, Oxford Univ.
Press, Chapter 8 “The Husbandman’s Year and Economic Ventures:, pg.148
14
Columella II de re Rustica V-IX, Translated by E.S. Forster & E. Heffner, Book VII, pg.285~289
6

7. 2 gallons Whole Milk
1 pkg. Mesophilic Culture Direct Set
1/8 tsp. Penicillium Roqueforti Culture (cheese #2 used a re-cultured blue mold)
1/8 tsp. Lipase Power – Capilase (very sharp) (an animal based enzyme used to enhance
flavor in cheese)
1 tsp. Rennet
¼ cup cool water
2 Tbl. Sea Salt
2 Stainless Steel Pots
1 Slotted Stainless Steel Spoon
1 yard of cheese cloth
1 Colander
1 Stainless Steel Ladle
1 Thermometer
1 Cheese Press
1 Cheese Mold & Follower
1 timer
1 large plastic cake container (Tupperware style)
2 Reed Mats to place the cheese on
Modern Method:
2-gallon whole milk (cheese #1 Store bought Milk / cheese #2 Raw Milk)
(Non-homogenized or Raw Milk will give you a richer cheese)
There is an additional step here for me since I used Raw Milk for cheese #2. I
needed to heat the milk for 30 min. to a temperature of 145°, then place the pot
immediately into a sink filled with cool water and ice if necessary to bring the
temp of the milk down quickly, then after cooled place sterile clean container and
precede, with cheese making steps below.
1 pack of Mesophilic Culture DS (this is used for temperatures under 105º)
1/8 tsp of Penicillium Roqueforti Culture
1/8 tsp of Lipase Power for 2 gallons of milk
1 tsp. of Rennet for 2 gallons of milk
1/4 cup of cool water to dilute the rennet
2 Tbl. Coarse Sea Salt
½ tsp. Calcium Chloride (used only in the milk purchased from Wal-mart)
Step One:
Place milk into large pan (fig. 6 & 8). Warm milk until it has risen to a temperature of
milk to 90° F. (Use the in-direct warming method using a large metal pan in a sink of
warm water, or inside of a second larger pot).
Add the Mold, then the Mesophilic Starter and allow to sit for 1 hour (60 minutes) and
Lipase Power (during the pasteurization process most of the naturally occurring lipase is
7

8. ruined).15 Add Rennet (diluted to 1/4 cup of cool water) and stir for several minuets. Let
milk sit covered for 1 hour at 90º F. Add the diluted Rennet stir gently keep at 90º F for 1
hour or until a curd has formed and a clean break can be preformed (the curd should have
what is called a clean break stage, which is if a clean knife is put into the curd the curd
should separate cleanly).
Cut the curds in ½ inch cubes, and then let sit for 5 minutes. Bring the temperature of the
curds and whey up to 90º F, stirring gently every 5 minutes for 1 hour. Then allow curds
to sit for 5 minutes.
Pour the curds into a cheesecloth-lined colander (fig.9) while still warm (fig.6, 8) and
hang to drain for 5 minutes.
Place the warm curds into the cheese mold (fig.2). Place a reed mat on the top and
bottom and a cheese board on top and bottom. Turn over the mold every 15 minutes for
the first 2 hours, then once an hour for the next two hours. Then allow draining over
night.16
Remove the cheese from the mold, sprinkle with the remaining salt on all surfaces.
Shake off excess salt. Let set at 60º F and 85% humidity. Turn the cheese round every
day for 4 days. Prick the cheese round with bamboo skewer making about 40 holes from
top to bottom of the cheese round, age at 50º F and 95% humidity turning every 4 days
(see fig. 7 A Cheese Cave).
Mold should appear after 10 days. After 30 days the surface of the cheese will be
covered with blue mold gently scrape off the mold, repeat this process every 20 to 30
days. After 90 days of aging wrap in foil, lower the temperature to 38º F for an
additional 60 days turning the cheese weekly.
The cheese is ready to eat after 6 months, but for a milder flavor cheese is ready after 3
months.
Cheese#1: Modern Roqueforti Culture (started 2/20 & 3/16)
Observations:
Day 1: (2/20/11 & 3/16/11)
15
Lava, Shari, What is Lipase Powder?, December 08, 2010, http://www.ehow.com/facts_7462852_lipase-
powder_.html, December 08, 2010
16
Carroll, Ricki & Robert, Cheese making made Easy, United States: Capital City Press, 1996, page 36~37
8

9. Cut the curds
Curds after 1 hour of heating at 90F
Warm cuts placed in to mold
Reed mats placed top & bottom of the mold
Cheese after draining over night (in this type of cheese
the warm curds press under their own weight).
9

10. Pricking the cheese
Blue started 2/20/11
Blue green mold is forming but slower container size
is not large enough to encourage the mold growth and needs turned more frequently and
air exchange. Also it is harder to keep enough moisture in the smaller box due to the
frequent opening.
10

11. These are updated photos of this
blue after 3 months of aging. Notice the beautiful blue veining and surface rind.
Blue started 3/16/11
Much larger container already the Blue Green Mold
growth is much better and the moisture in this container is better also (this type of cheese
needs is much higher moisture in the range of 80~90% humidity).
11

12. These are updated photos of the
blue at two months of age. This round is more in the style of a Stilton (less air space,
creamery texture), beautiful rind mold and minimal blue veining.
Cheese #2: Re-cultured Method (started 10-10-10)
A piece of a Roquefort Blue was added to a ½ cup of raw milk 24 hour before making the
cheese. After the cheese was warmed to 90ºF the re-culture, and started were added to
the milk and the remaining steppes were followed as stated above.
Aging container (this container worked for this round
of Blue since it is much smaller than the later two using the modern method of re-
culturing.)
12

13. Cheese wrapped in cheese cloth in aging container
Blue re-cultured after 5 months of aging
Blue at 71/2 months of age flavor is slightly
salty in the nature of a blue cheese with, some blue veining, and has that wonderful smell
that only a blue aged for this amount of time can have.
TASTEING NOTE:
The re-cultured cheese was on the salty side but would be good in salads or cooked with
meats, and had a good blue color. The blue put up in February was creamy and had a
good blue cheese flavor and a small about of veining. The blue cheese put up in March
was a bit salty but blue by their nature are a bit to the salty side, and was just starting to
show blue veining.
Observations:
I wanted to see what the texture and taste of a Blue Semi-Hard Cheese would be if I used
a period method of resulting vs. a modern method of propagation of the Roquefort blue
mold. The re-culture was started on 10/10/10 this was started earlier as the re-cultured
took longer to show the blue mold. The second round was started in March of 2011 using
a modern Roquefort culture. This culture produced molds with the 10 day time frame
noted in the modern instructions for making blue cheese.
13

14. Early Blue Re-Cultured Method good veining
Early Blue Re-Cultured Method curd packed to tight
so developed good flavor but no veining
Early Blue Re-Cultured Method same as above good
flavor but curd packed to tightly for veining to form
Conclusion:
Blue cheese, unlike some of the other hard & semi-hard cheeses has higher moisture
content. The molds that give this cheese its flavor and color require a high moisture
environment for the mold to grow.
When forming the cheese rounds unlike other hard cheese blues press under their own
weight. The reason for this is that the spaces between the curds are where the lovely blue
veining forms. Over pressing will give you a firmer cheese with the flavor of a blue, with
the molds only growing on the exterior of the cheese (see pictures above). Also it took
me several times to get the right container & moisture figured out to get the blue green
mold to grow correctly.
Some of the things I learned were if my house is too cold the curd will not set. I can
warm the milk and add more Rennet, and that if using a raw milk product that is
produced near the end of the cows or goat’s lactation cycle the milk does not contain
enough milk fat to set a curd (you get a weak or soft curd that does not hold up during the
14

15. cheese making process for hard cheese). I have also learned that time is much more
critical for making hard cheeses, and the process of making hard cheeses is not nearly as
forgiving as making soft cheeses.
On adding rennet I learned early on that a little goes a long way and adding two much of
something in the case of making cheese can be a bad thing. Adding not enough rennet
and your curd will not set, but I have found that you can add a little more if necessary.
Adding to much rennet will give it a rubbery texture and a bitter under taste. This also
will happen if your rennet is too old.
This last statement is important because it explains a couple of written statements I found
in period sources that talked about the time of year and the quality of the cheese products
produced. For example in the spring and early summer the milk is rich and contains a
large of amount of protein and milk fat due to new pastures and lactation for their young,
so the cheese is going to be very rich in body and flavor. If the milk is in the fall then it
is not as rich due to the decline of pasture feeding and that they are no longer lactating, so
the cheese produced in the fall will take more milk to produce a pound of cheese due to a
lower amount of protein and fat making the milk thinner (the cream that comes to the top
is not as thick as in the spring/ summer milk). What the animals eat also effect the flavor
of the cheese as well.
Another lesson that applies as much now as then is keeping things clean, “morning milk
in fair cleansing pans in such place as no dust may fall therein”. There are times when no
matter what you do the milk will not set and all you can do is start over and feed the
previous batch to the pig.
This is a process I have been learning about for the last 4 years, I started Medieval
Cheese Forum a year ago (www.medievalcheese.blogspot.com) so I could keep track of
mistakes and successes, share information I have learned about cheese making also.
Enjoy sampling the cheese.
15

16. 17
fig. 5
18
fig. 6 Warming the milk
Warming
milk
Slotted
ladle &
strainer
17
Norman Cheeses, www.formages.org/fnd/fdn_neufcatel_en
18
From Tacuinum Sanitatis (ÖNB Codex Vindobonensis, series nova 2644), c. 1370-1400)
http://www.godecookery.com/afeast/foods/foods.html
16

17. 19
Fig.7 A cheese cave as one might have seen it in the middle ages.
19
Feibleman, Peter, The Cooking of Spain & Portugal, Time Life Books, 1969, pg. 130~131
17

18. 20
Fig. 8 Draining Whey
21
Fig. 9 Roman Cheese Press in form and function very similar to those found from 600
– 1600A.D.
Unless otherwise noted all other pictures are my photography.
20
Take 1000 Eggs or More, pg. 45, from Schweizer Chronik, c. 1548
21
Roman Cheese Press, Greyware circular straight-sided bowl, used for training the Whey from cheese, c. 450 A.D.,
http://www.museumoflondonprints.com
18