Roquefort: A cheese that can really grow on you

Cheese lovers will likely be singing the blues when a pricy cheese gets even more expensive, thanks to a new tariff.

On Jan. 15, U.S. Trade Representatives released a new list of tariffs on products from the European Union. Roquefort, a French blue cheese, is the only product on that list whose tariff will be raised to 300 percent when the changes go into effect in March.

Wicker Park resident Jessi Dana paused in a grocery store to express surprise about the tariff increase. She buys blue cheese roughly once a month, mostly for use in salads. If the price goes up, she said she’d likely consume less.

“There’s other ways to make a salad taste good,” Dana said.

France regulates the use of the name “Roquefort," which is applied only to cheeses made near Roquefort sur Soulzon, a city in the south of France.

“You can’t be in the Netherlands and make a Roquefort. You can’t make a Roquefort in the U.S.,” said Greg O’Neill, co-owner of Pastoral Artisan Bread, Cheese and Wine in Chicago.

Only certain approved producers using certain approved methods in a designated part of France can make true Roquefort.

The tariff increase is part of a dispute stemming back to 1988, when the EU banned beef that had been injected with certain growth-stimulating hormones. The list was established in 1999 after a World Trade Organization panel authorized the U.S. to impose additional tariffs on certain EU products.

The WTO upheld the authorization when the EU appealed in October 2008 and instructed the U.S. Trade Representatives to review the additional tariffs, leading to the publication of the new list, which now includes more countries in addition to changes to the products affected, said Trish Pohanka, director of purchasing at European Imports Ltd. in Chicago.

While customers might raise a stink about the steep price increase, Chicago retailers expect to keep selling Roquefort. The distinctive cheese was selling for $41.99 per pound at Oak Park’s Marion Street Cheese Market Sunday, two months before the tariff is scheduled to take effect.

Marion Street Cheese Market cheesemonger Trevor Rose-Hamblin said he noticed his customers buying smaller portions of various cheeses as the economy worsened. “I personally don’t sell as much [Roquefort],” he said. “It’s a hard selling point at $41.99 a pound.”

But not as much isn’t the same thing as none. The consensus among cheese sellers seems to be that devotees will always seek out Roquefort.

“It’s a one-and-only,” said cheesemonger Andrew Hitz, also of Marion Street Cheese Market. “It’s popular. And a lot of the American cheese makers have adopted recipes that are similar and have been very successful, too.”

O’Neill described the cheese as “full-flavored.” He said admirers of the cheese will likely always look for it, but that he higher prices might deter shoppers who might have come in just looking for a blue cheese. O’Neill said he “may end up sending [such shoppers] home with a sheep’s milk blue cheese from Minnesota that’s excellent.”

Pastoral’s Roquefort was priced at $32.99 per pound Tuesday. Pastoral cuts cheese to order, so cheese lovers don’t have to buy a whole pound.

Despite the higher price, O’Neill said Pastoral’s two shops would continue to sell Roquefort. O’Neill hoped that the dollar would improve versus the euro as the year goes on and said he would be watching sales of Roquefort to gauge the effects of the tariff increase.

“It’s one of the classics. A Stilton, a Gorgonzola, a Roquefort…these are classic cheeses that any credible cheese counter is going to want to include as part of their assortment,” O’Neill said. “We’re not as worried about us losing a sale as much as we are that we may have to find people some alternatives.”