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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from France, the Vercors massif west of Grenoble

Bleu du Vercors-Sassenage PDOBleu du Vercors-Sassenage

Raw or thermised cow milk is warmed with mostly thermophilic cultures and Penicillium roqueforti, set with rennet at 31–35 °C and cut into hazelnut- to walnut-sized grains. The curd is layered into moulds without pressing, dry-salted for up to three days, then pierced and ripened at 9–14 °C for at least 21 days into a mild, creamy blue. Made in 8 steps over 28 days. The longest step, pierce and ripen in a cool, damp cellar, takes at least 21 days (Ministère de l'agriculture 2025) and runs at 9–14 °C (Ministère de l'agriculture 2025). Mostly thermophilic lactic acid bacteria added at warm maturing and Penicillium roqueforti, the blue veins do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 21 daysSet[vercors-cdc2025][vercors-sd2026]Pierce and ripen in a cool, damp cellar
Temperature9–14 °CSet[vercors-cdc2025]Pierce and ripen in a cool, damp cellar
Fully documentedCheese28 daysPDO (EU, 2001); specification amended 2019 and 2026Family: Blue-veined cheese family (Roquefort as template)More blue cheesesMore from France

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification fixes limits, not a recipe. Each cheese weighs 3.8–5 kg.
Cow milk, raw or thermised · From at most the last four milkings; raw only on farms; may be partly skimmed when the fat-to-protein ratio is above 1.16[vercors-cdc2025]
Mostly thermophilic lactic cultures (mesophilic cultures allowed for cold maturing)[vercors-cdc2025]
Penicillium roqueforti[vercors-cdc2025]
Rennet · Only rennet is allowed as a coagulant[vercors-cdc2025]
Dry salt[vercors-cdc2025]
Surface flora (optional), calcium chloride[vercors-cdc2025]
Starter: mostly thermophilic lactic cultures with Penicillium roqueforti

Total time across the recorded steps: 28 days

Start
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What changes: Starting material: milk of Vercors cows fed on grass and hay

Step 1 of 8
Collect and prepare the milk
Time
up to 36 h
Set
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Penicillium roqueforti
Moulds

Dairies may thermise the milk; farms use raw milk only. Freezing curd or fresh cheese is not allowed.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Bleu du Vercors-Sassenage is a mild blue. The grains are stirred until they skin over and are layered into moulds without pressing, which leaves small even gaps for the blue, and it may be sold after only 21 days.

Milk
Cow milk, raw or thermised (raw on farms); Montbéliarde, Abondance and Villard-de-Lans breeds; at least 150 days of grazing a year; no silage or other fermented feed
Paste
Blue, uncooked and unpressed; at least 48 % fat in dry matter and 52 % dry matter
Ripening
At least 21 days from renneting
Size
Flat cylinder 27–30 cm across, 7–9 cm high, 3.8–5 kg, with convex sides

Related ferments

Variants

  • Farm Bleu du Vercors-SassenageMade on the farm from raw milk only, renneted within 36 hours of the oldest milking.

Safety

Cheeses made from raw milk are raw-milk blue cheeses. ANSES advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity to avoid raw-milk cheeses other than cooked pressed ones such as Comté. Cooking the cheese removes the risk.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and Shiga-toxin-producing E. coli (risks ANSES names for raw-milk cheeses).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

In the 14th century the Lord of Sassenage, who held the parishes of Lans, Villard-de-Lans, Méaudre and Autrans, took the cheese as a tax and sold it in Sassenage, which spread its name. Farm production faded early in the 20th century; in 1933 Léonard Mestrallet of the Villard dairy cooperative revived the traditional recipe. The local Villard-de-Lans cattle breed nearly vanished in the 1970s and is being restored.

  1. [vercors-cdc2025] Ministère de l'agriculture, Cahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine « Bleu du Vercors-Sassenage », homologated by arrêté of 5 December 2025 (JORF 18 December 2025), Bulletin officiel n°2025-51spec
  2. [vercors-sd2026] European Commission 2026, Communication of approval of a standard amendment, 'Bleu du Vercors-Sassenage' PDO-FR-0077-AM03, single document, Official Journal C, C/2026/2145, 16.4.2026spec
  3. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov