The curd is salted and placed into a mould before being removed and placed on racks made from
spruce wood. The cheese is then turned by hand, ninety degrees at a time, over a period of twelve hours. The cheese is injected with
penicillium roqueforti spores, and later injected with air to form pockets in the pâte to encourage spore development. The cheese must be aged for at least 28 days, though more often it is left for around 8 weeks. Around of milk are used to make each cheese. By regulation the cheese may only be manufactured in any of 33
communes of the
Forez mountains in the departments of
Puy-de-Dôme and
Loire. The finished cheese is a minimum of 50% fat, and although the majority of production uses
pasteurised milk, the growing artisanal manufacturers are using unpasteurized milk. The total production in 2005 was 495 tons. == See also ==