Bleu des Basques

Wedge of Bleu des basques. Alpha / wikimedia / 2010 / CC BY-SA 2.0

Bleu des Basques is a modern French blue cheese made from sheep’s milk.

The cheese is semi-firm, slightly crumbly, and is milder and less salty than other blue cheeses. It has bluish-grey veins, and a rind.

Production

The milk is “thermalized” but not pasteurized, then coagulated with calf rennet.

Two sizes of cheese wheels are made, 3 kg and 5 kg (4 pounds and 11 pounds).  The 5 kg / 11 pound sizes are about 30 cm wide x 7 cm tall (12 x 2.7 inches).

The cheese is usually aged for a minimum of 65 days, up to 90 days. ^[1]Accessed September 2022 at http://www.onetik.com/fr/produit/pur-brebis-bleu-des-basques-2/

It is made in Macaye, in the Pyrénées (on the border between France and Spain.)

Cooking Tips

To serve, unwrap any plastic around it, and bring to room temperature. Drops of fat will “weep” on the surface: this is because sheep’s milk is higher in fat than cow’s milk.

Equivalents

1 cup, crumbled = ¼ pound = 115 g

History

In the 1980s, three cheese makers in the region formed a cooperative called “Berria”. Cheeses produced by the cooperative are now sold under the brand name of Onetik.

Onetik created the Bleu des Basques cheese around 2001.

Bleu des Basques. Onetik / wikimedia / 2013 / CC BY-SA 4.0