Fromage de Bellelay
Tête de Moine AOP
Once a popular means of payment, a delicacy on the tables of French noble houses and Swiss bishops, the Tête de Moine AOP is an exclusive enjoyment even today. Its pure, floral-aromatic and creamy-spicy taste with the balanced salty note unfolds perfectly when it is shaved with a special knife into wafer-thin rosettes.
The cylindrically-shaped, approximately 800 gram-heavy Tête de Moine AOP has its origins in the 12th century in the Jurassic Bellelay monastery. Today, it is produced in the local village cheese dairy with the best natural raw milk from cows that are fed only mountain grass and hay.
Once only known locally, a well-protected pearl of the region, today any Apéro tray cannot be imaged without Tête de Moine AOP.
Product specification
Composition | raw cow's milk, salt, bacteria cultures, rennet |
Origin | Swiss Jura |
Production | artisanal |
Maturing method | traditional, natural smear-rind maturation |
Shape / Size | cylindrical loaf, Ø 10-15 cm, height 9.5-12 cm |
Weight | 700 - 900 g |
Rind / Appearance | brown to reddish-brown rind |
Dough | depending on the season, ivory-coloured to bright yellow |
Holes | 1-8 mm, rather sparse, occasional small crevices |
Flavour | pure and aromatic |
Hardness / wff | semi-hard / 58 % |
Fat in dry matter | 52 % |
Maturation | 3 - 4 months |
Durability | 3 months |
Storage temperature | +3° to +5° C |