Roquefort

Roquefort is notable for histamine, tyramine, oxalates and gluten. Clear on salicylate, sucrose, FODMAPs, lactose, oligosaccharides, sorbitol, fructose and nickel.

Yes — roquefort is high in histamine. Roquefort stacks three things that each raise the level: sheep's milk, richer in protein than cow's; Penicillium roqueforti grown right through the paste; and the ageing its AOP requires - fourteen days at least in the Combalou caves and three months in all before it may be sold, usually longer. It is habitually cited among the highest-histamine cheeses measured. That ageing is a floor and not a typical age: the wheel in front of you may be far past it.

Yes — roquefort is high in tyramine. Roquefort stacks three things that each raise tyramine: sheep's milk, richer in protein than cow's; Penicillium grown right through the paste rather than on the rind; and the ageing its AOP requires - at least fourteen days in the Combalou caves and three months in all before it may be sold, usually more. It is habitually cited among the highest cheeses measured.

Roquefort contains only low levels of oxalates. Roquefort contains no oxalate of its own - oxalate is a plant compound and this is not a plant. The blue veins are mould grown in the curd, fed on milk, not on plants. On the board, the bread and the nuts are what this axis has to count. Its calcium even helps the rest of the plate: it binds oxalate from whatever is eaten alongside.

Roquefort contains only low levels of gluten. Roquefort is made in caves rather than in a laboratory, and the traditional method really did grow the Penicillium on rye bread left in the cave. Modern producers use cultured spores, and cheese is on Coeliac UK's naturally gluten-free list — which is the whole of what is published, since no dosage of Roquefort exists either way. This is the one blue where the story is not a myth, only history. Amounts vary by brand and recipe, so always check the label of the exact product.