Roquefort Caves

Last week Xander and I picked up his mom and headed off to Roquefort to check out the cheese caves. It’s something we have wanted to do for a while but we usually visit in the fall when the cheese is already made and the caves are empty. This year we were just in time to catch the end of the production!

There were about 20 of us doing the tour, including a really huffy and cranky French woman and her rude husband and two hilarious and fun couples from Israel. It was an interesting group for sure and I had just as much fun people watching as I did exploring the caves. It’s just as well because the tour was done in French and outside of a few translations from Nicole and Xander I didn’t understand a thing. I did get a paper with info when I went in but it didn’t cover a lot of what the guide was saying.

The first room we entered had a display with lights and moving panels which showed us how the area was formed. It was pretty good and looked quite realistic. I think if it weren’t for the lines holding the panels you would almost think it was an actual photo of the village.

I didn’t mind too much that I didn’t understand the guide as the caves themselves were so beautiful that I enjoyed looking around and taking it all in. I expected these claustrophobic dingy caves and instead were met with what felt more like dim castle hallways. I had only my mobile phone so I wasn’t able to capture it all but you can get an idea from this photo of the ceiling in one of the rooms.

There was a light show in that room which apparently told the legend of how the cheese was discovered, something about a guy leaving his cheese out with bread and it going moldy. You can google it!

Who knew moldy bread could be so handy…

This one blob of moldy bread can create a bazillion blobs of cheese. Try to keep up, I know this is all very technical.

Once we finally got to where the actual cheese was it was really cool! Some of the rooms had up to 30,000 wheels of cheese in there. This one had 25,000 that 20 people placed in there by hand just the day before.

With the red lighting doesn’t it look like theater seating at a glance? I really wish they had turned on the real lights for just a minute so we could take photos but I think there is something about lights and how it affects bacteria growth.

Here’s the same photo that I fussed with for Instagram…

Looks a bit more cheese-like in white!

You can sort of see in this photo just how much cheese was in there. The little specks of light way at the back are all cheese… Cheese as far as the eye can see!

This cheese had just been set out a few days before and you can just see the start of the mold coming through.

All in all it was a really fun visit. I think what surprised me most was at the end when they had a tasting. I don’t even really like Roquefort (unless it’s on pizza) so I was pretty puckery when I first took a bite at the tasting. Then the guide suggested that I try it with a piece of gingerbread. I honestly thought she lost her marbles but she knows more about the cheese than I do, so I gave it a go. It was SO good! The salty and spicy sweet bread together was absolutely delicious.

Another thing I really loved were all the ads scattered around the place. They were brilliant! I especially liked the ones replacing precious and delicious items with Roquefort…

I just think they are all so clever!

Regardless of whether you speak French and in spite of my rather shoddy facts, I think this place is worth a visit, especially if you are looking for a way to escape the afternoon heat. On the day we went it was 35 degrees (c) and inside the caves was only 10 degrees! Thankfully we had seen on the website to bring sweaters or we would have frozen. The cool air was such a sweet relief but the heat hits you like a wall when you leave.

Oh, and be sure to visit in the spring, before about mid June, otherwise you will miss the cheese!