''Petit-suisse'' (meaning "little Swiss cheese") is a French

cheese Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range 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 prod ...

from the

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

region.

Production and use

''Petit-suisse'' is a '' fromage frais'', an unripened, unsalted, smooth, and creamy cheese with a texture closer to a very thick yogurt than a typical cheese. It is made from cow's

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

enriched with cream so that its dry solids contain about 40%

fat In nutrition science, nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such chemical compound, compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers specif ...

content (around 10% in the actual product eaten). The cheese is then smoothed and drained in a centrifuge. A typical cheese weighs 30 or 60 grams and is packaged in a cylinder around 4 cm high and 3 cm diameter or 5 cm by 4 cm in the larger size. ''Petit-suisse'' may be consumed with sugar, as a dessert either on its own or with jam or honey, or salted and peppered with herbs. It is also used in meat stuffings. A mixture of ''petit-suisse'' and mustard is sometimes applied to rabbit to prevent the meat from drying during cooking.

History and development

Contrary to what its name suggests, ''petit-suisse'' did not originate in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, but in Normandy, where in the 1850s, a Swiss employee at a dairy in Auvilliers (

) suggested adding cream to enrich the curd used for cheese. Originally, it was sold in a thin paper wrapping and packaged in wooden boxes, six to a box. The cheeses weighed 60 grams each and were called simply ''"suisse"'' (Swiss). Today, they are made throughout France. Though the 60-g version is often seen labelled ''petit suisse'', the term is sometimes reserved for the 30-g ones, the larger ones then being referred to as a ''double petit-suisse'', ''double suisse'', or ''suisse double''.

References

External links

Fromages de Normandie
Norman cuisine French cheeses Cow's-milk cheeses {{france-cheese-stub