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Bleu de Gex

creamy cow’s milk blue

Bleu de Gex is a French cow’s-milk blue cheese, labelled Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). Its precise labelled name is “Bleu de Gex haut Jura”; it is also called “Bleu de Septmoncel”.

Made in the Haut-Jura between the departments of Ain and Jura, mild creamy Bleu de Gex comes exclusively from the raw milk of Montbéliard cows. It’s also known as Bleu du Haut-Jura, Perrachu, Perassu or Bleu de Septmoncel.

The legend goes that a Frère Anselme, a monk from the Abbaye de Chézery-Forens, was making a pilgrimage to the Abbaye de Saint-Claude in 1467, when he got caught in a snowstorm at Moussières and was surrounded by hungry wolves. A peasant rescued him, and in return he gave the secret of making cheese in the style of Bleu du Vercors-Sassenage.

Bleu de Gex was the favourite cheese of Charles V in the 16th century. It is also sold younger than other French blues; AOP since 1977.

AOPs and some others

Auvergne Rhône Alpes

Cheese and dairy

Text © Dana Facaros

Image by Myrabella