Beaufort () is a firm, raw cow's milk

cheese Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During productio ...

associated with the gruyère family. An Alpine cheese, it is produced in

Beaufortain Beaufortain is a valley in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. It extends around the commune of Beaufort Beaufort may refer to: People and titles * Beaufort (surname) * House of Beaufort, English nobility ...

, Tarentaise valley and

Maurienne Maurienne ( frp, Môrièna) is one of the provinces of Savoy, corresponding to the arrondissement of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in France. It is also the original name of the capital of the province, now Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. Location The Mau ...

, which are located in the

Savoie Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè'' or ''Savouè-d'Avâl''; English: ''Savoy'' ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southeastern France. Located in the French Alps, its prefecture is Chambéry. In 2019, Savoie had a population ...

region of the French Alps.

Varieties

There are three varieties of Beaufort: *Beaufort d'été (or summer Beaufort) *Beaufort d'alpage (made in

chalets A chalet (pronounced in British English; in American English usually ), also called Swiss chalet, is a type of building or house, typical of the Alpine region in Europe. It is made of wood, with a heavy, gently sloping roof and wide, well-supp ...

in the Alps on high pastures) *Beaufort d'hiver (winter Beaufort)

AOC Status

Beaufort was first certified as an

appellation d'origine contrôlée An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical bo ...

in 1968.

Preparation and production

Beaufort is produced in the

, Tarentaise and Maurienne valleys, as well as parts of the Val d'Arly valley, all located on 450,000 hectares of the Savoie region. The cheese is prepared using of milk for every of cheese desired. The milk used in one variety comes from the Tarine or Abondance cows that graze in the Alps. To make Beaufort, the milk is first heated and then cast into a beechwood hoop or mold which gives the cheese its distinctive concave shape. It is pressed for 24 hours, taken out of the hoops and then cooled for another 24 hours. Once cooled, it is soaked in brine and then stored on spruce shelves for one to two months. During this part of the process, one side of the cheese is hand-salted each morning, then turned over and massaged each afternoon. Once the cheese rind has reached a level of maturity, the cheese is

smear-ripened Washed-rind or smear-ripened cheeses are cheeses which are periodically treated with brine or mold-bearing agents. This encourages the growth of certain bacteria on their surface which give them distinctive flavors. There are hard and soft washed ...

with a mixture called morge which produces its strong flavour and pale yellow rind.Fox, Patrick. ''Cheese: Chemistry, Physics and Microbiology''. p. 200. The prepared cheese must then age for 6–12 months, or even longer, in a cool mountain cellar. Fabrication_du_Beaufort_(4).jpg, Reheating milk Fabrication_du_Beaufort_(5).jpg, Milk curdling Fabrication_du_Beaufort_(6).jpg, Scaling of milk Fabrication_du_Beaufort_(11).jpg, Brewing of milk Fabrication_du_Beaufort_(21).jpg, Mass of curd removed in linen cloth Fabrication_du_Beaufort_(22).jpg, Molding in a circle of beech wood Fabrication_du_Beaufort_(29).jpg, Molding in a circle of beech wood Fabrication_du_Beaufort_(33).jpg, Pressing Beaufort_dans_la_cave_de_la_coopérative_laitière_de_Moûtiers_(2).jpg, Ripening of Beaufort

Taste and texture

Beaufort cheese is pale yellow, with a smooth and creamy texture and lacks holes like other Gruyère-style cheeses, Comté,

Vacherin Fribourgeois Vacherin Fribourgeois (from French, ''Vacherin of Fribourg'') a Swiss semi-hard cheese made from thermised milk. It is produced under Swiss AOC in the canton of Fribourg, where Gruyère also originates. It has a slightly acidic, resiny flavor, a ...

Emmental The Emmental ( en, Emme Valley) is a valley in west-central Switzerland, forming part of the canton of Bern. It is a hilly landscape comprising the basins of the rivers Emme and Ilfis. The region is mostly devoted to farming, particularly dair ...

. Beaufort also has a very distinct aroma, sometime described as strong or mildly pungent and reminiscent of the pastures on which the Tarentaise and Abondance cows graze to provide the milk used for the cheese. Beaufort is commonly used to make fondue because it melts easily. One of the many cheeses that go well with white

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented grapes. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different ...

, Beaufort is often enjoyed with fish, especially

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus '' Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Onco ...

References

External links