Blue cheese mold would form. According to legend, Roquefort was discovered when a youth, eating a lunch of bread and ewes' milk cheese, abandoned his meal in a nearby cave after seeing a beautiful girl in the distance. When he returned months later, the mold ("Penicillium roqueforti") had transformed his cheese into Roquefort. Gorgonzola is one of the oldest known blue cheeses, having been created around 879 AD, though it is said that it did not actually contain blue veins until around the 11th century. Stilton is a relatively new addition becoming popular sometime in the early 1700s. Many varieties of blue
Cheese have been the source of most cheese in America and Europe ever since. In 2014, world production of cheese from whole cow milk was 18.7 million tonnes, with the United States accounting for 29% (5.4 million tonnes) of the world total followed by Germany, France and Italy as major producers (table). Other 2014 world totals for processed cheese include: During 2015, Germany, France, Netherlands and Italy exported 10-14% of their produced cheese. The United States was a marginal exporter (5.3% of total cow milk production), as most of its output was for the domestic market. France, Iceland, Finland, Denmark and