Bleu d'Auvergne

Bleu d'Auvergne is an unpressed, uncooked, fermented, and salted cow's milk blue cheese produced within a defined area spanning parts of Auvergne and adjacent departments. Made exclusively from renneted cow's milk, it takes the form of a flat cylinder weighing between 2 and 3 kg, with a white-to-ivory interior marked by an even distribution of blue-to-green veins.

About this designation

Registered as a PDO under file number PDO-FR-0107, with EU protection dating from 21 June 1996, Bleu d'Auvergne is classified under eAmbrosia identifier EUGI00000012981. The specification requires that the cheese be made exclusively from renneted cow's milk and that it be unpressed, uncooked, fermented, and salted. The cheese is produced in the form of a flat cylinder between 19 and 23 cm in diameter, 8 and 11 cm in height, and weighing between 2 and 3 kg. The fat content must be at least 50 % after total desiccation and the dry matter content at least 51 %, also determined after total desiccation. The cheese may not be marketed under the designation until the 28th day following the date of renneting. The rind must be healthy, without wetness or exudation, and may carry white, grey, green, blue, or black mould. The interior veins, produced by Penicillium roqueforti, must be evenly distributed and range in size between that of a wheat grain and a maize kernel. The geographical area covers specified municipalities and cantons across the departments of Aveyron, Cantal, Corrèze, Haute-Loire, Lot, Lozère, and Puy-de-Dôme. Throughout the year, the dairy herd must be fed exclusively on fodder from within the geographical area, with complementary feedstuffs limited to 1 800 kg of dry matter per dairy cow per year. Grazing is mandatory for lactating dairy cows when weather permits and must amount to at least 150 days per year. The applicant group is the Syndicat Interprofessionnel Régional du 'Bleu d'Auvergne', based in Riom-ès-Montagnes. The label must display the designation of origin in characters at least two-thirds the size of the largest characters on the label.

Source: The register document this entry was written from · retrieved August 26, 2026

Distinctive facts

• Registered as a PDO on 21 June 1996 under file number PDO-FR-0107; eAmbrosia identifier EUGI00000012981.
• The cheese may not be marketed under the designation until the 28th day following the date of renneting.
• Complementary feedstuffs for dairy cows are limited to 1 800 kg of dry matter per cow per year; at least 70 % of total feed dry matter must originate within the geographical area.
• The specification permits only the large flat-cylinder format, between 19 and 23 cm in diameter; the smaller formats previously listed have been removed from the designation.

Tasting notes

Auvergne cow's milk blue cheese aged minimum 21 days. Ivory-white paste with prominent dark blue-green Penicillium roqueforti veining, soft creamy moist texture, robust pungent salty-spicy flavor with mineral-mushroom notes — more accessible and balanced than Roquefort.

HoReCa use

Bleu d'Auvergne can be marketed in the form of portions of any size.

Packaging

• wheel-full-2-3kg
• wheel-half-vacuum-1.5kg
• wedge-vacuum-300g
• wedge-vacuum-150g
• crumbled-pre-pack-100g