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Blue du Vercors-Sassenage

Name of Group of Producers

Bleu du Vercors-Sassenage is an unpressed, uncooked blue-veined cheese in flat cylinders, 27 cm to 30 cm in diameter and 7 cm to 9 cm high, with convex sides, weighing between 4 kg and 4,5 kg, ripend, with a fine bloom on the rind consisting of a light white mould-type down that may have orange to ivory coloured marbling of the kind caused by yeast and ripening bacteria.

The geographical area in which Bleu du Vercors-Sassenage with a registered desigantion of origin is made is located within the Vercors massif and includes 13 municipalities in the department of Drôme and 14 in the department of Isère.

Evidence exists of this cheese having been produced in the Vercors massif since the 14th century. Baron Albert de Sassenage, in a deed of June 1338, granted authorisation to the inhabitants of the region to sell their cheese freely. The product's renown in attested to by a great many documents, including Pierre Larousse's Grand Dictionnaire Universel of the 19th century in which King Francis I is described as a great enthusiast. Production in the traditional way on farms was carried on up to the early years of the 20th century. In 1933 a dairy started manufacturing the cheese following the traditional formula. More recently, on-farm production has been enjoying a new boom.

Milk used to produce Bleu du Vercors-Sassenage with a registered designation of origin must be from dairy herds made up of cows of the Montbéliard, Abondance and Villard breeds only. Their feed must comprise fodder from the defined geographical area. Milk used in the production process is whole, or possibly partly skimmed, cow's milk from the last four milkings of the day only. The cheese is manufactured from milk heated to a maximum temperature of 76 °C and injected with Penicillium roqueforti. Coagulation must be carried out using rennet at a temperature of between 31 °C and 35 °C. The curd is stirred and poured into moulds in several

layers without pressing. Salting takes place in individual moulds over a period of not more than three days. The ripening process of at least 21 days from the date of coagulation up to the time of removal from the cellar means that the cheese can develop in a balanced way.