Alpert.


Roquefort

Homage to this _fromage!_ Long hailed as _le roi_ Roquefort, it has
filled books and booklets beyond count. By the miracle of _Penicillium
Roqueforti_ a new cheese was made. It is placed historically back
around the eighth century when Charlemagne was found picking out the
green spots of Persillé with the point of his knife, thinking them
decay. But the monks of Saint-Gall, who were his hosts, recorded in
their annals that when they regaled him with Roquefort (because it was
Friday and they had no fish) they also made bold to tell him he was
wasting the best part of the cheese. So he tasted again, found the
advice excellent and liked it so well he ordered two _caisses_ of it
sent every year to his palace at Aix-la-Chapelle. He also suggested
that it be cut in half first, to make sure it was well veined with
blue, and then bound up with a wooden fastening.

Perhaps he hoped the wood would protect the cheeses from mice and
rats, for the good monks of Saint-Gall couldn't be expected to send an
escort of cats from their chalky caves to guard them--even for
Charlemagne. There is no telling how many cats were mustered out in
the caves, in those early days, but a recent census put the number at
five hundred. We can readily imagine the head handler in the caves
leading a night inspection with a candle, followed by his chief taster
and a regiment of cats. While the Dutch and other makers of cheese
also employ cats to patrol their storage caves, Roquefort holds the
record for number. An interesting point in this connection is that as
rats and mice pick only the prime cheeses, a gnawed one is not thrown