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Cheese from France, Haute-Savoie

Abondance PDOAbondance

Raw whole milk from Abondance, Tarentaise or Montbéliarde cows is renneted in an open copper vat, cut into grains smaller than a centimetre and heated to 45–50 °C, so the paste is semi-cooked. The curd is lifted in a cloth into a hoop that gives the wheel its hollow sides, pressed at least seven hours and salted. It ripens at least 100 days on spruce boards, rubbed often with morge.

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification fixes limits, not a recipe. Farm vats hold at most 1500 L; each wheel weighs 6–12 kg.
Raw whole cow milkAbondance, Tarentaise or Montbéliarde cows, with at least 45% Abondance-breed animals; no cream added or removed; heated only once, to 30–35 °C[cdc-abon2018]
Lactic cultures (optional)The specification allows them to be added to the raw milk. They come from a culture made from an earlier batch, or from commercial cultures in the producers' culture bank[cdc-abon2018]
Calf rennet[cdc-abon2018]
SaltBrine and dry salt[cdc-abon2018]
StarterOptional lactic cultures, made from an earlier batch (on whey from an earlier Abondance or on a milk medium) or taken from a listed bank of commercial cultures

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.6 months

Start
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4–14 °C

What changes: Starting material: raw whole milk from two milkings, kept cool

Step 1 of 7
Keep the milk cool and use it fast
Time
up to 14 h
Set
Temperature
4–14 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Dairies must rennet the two milkings before noon of the day after the oldest one.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Raw whole milk from Abondance, Tarentaise or Montbéliarde cows is renneted in an open copper vat, cut into grains smaller than a centimetre and heated to 45–50 °C, so the paste is semi-cooked. The curd is lifted in a cloth into a hoop that gives the wheel its hollow sides, pressed at least seven hours and salted. It ripens at least 100 days on spruce boards, rubbed often with morge. Made in 7 steps over 3.6 months. The longest step, ripen on spruce, rubbed with morge, takes at least 3.3 months (Ministère de l'agriculture 2018) and runs at 10–13 °C (Ministère de l'agriculture 2018).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 3.3 monthsSet[cdc-abon2018]Ripen on spruce, rubbed with morge
Temperature10–13 °CSet[cdc-abon2018]Ripen on spruce, rubbed with morge

What makes this one different

Abondance is a semi-cooked pressed cheese, heated to 45–50 °C. The specification says this gives a more supple texture than pressed cooked cheeses. It is smaller, at 6–12 kg, and the hoop gives it a concave heel. The specification links the small size to family herds on individual summer pastures and to farm making.

Milk
Raw whole milk from Abondance, Tarentaise and Montbéliarde cows, at least 45% Abondance breed
Cooking
Semi-cooked, curd heated to 45–50 °C
Ripening
At least 100 days from renneting
Size
Flat wheel 7–8 cm high with a concave heel, 6–12 kg; at least 48 g fat per 100 g dry matter and 58 g dry matter per 100 g

Related ferments

Variants

  • Abondance fermierMade on a farm, with a green oval identification plate; cutting, moulding and turning are done by hand
  • Abondance laitierMade in a dairy, with a red square identification plate

Safety

This is a raw-milk cheese. ANSES advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity not to eat raw-milk cheeses other than cooked pressed ones such as Comté; Abondance is classed as semi-cooked. The risks ANSES names for raw-milk cheeses include Listeria, Salmonella and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli. ANSES says raw-milk cheese cooked through, as in a baked dish, no longer poses a risk.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The EU registration application under Regulation 2081/92 credits the canons of the Abondance monastery with raising Abondance cattle and making cheese before the year 1000; the current specification dates their role to the 13th century. In 1381, 15 quintals of the cheese were sent to the papal conclave at Avignon. Alpine pastures were run by single families, which tied the cheese to farm making. It became an AOC in 1990.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [cdc-abon2018] Ministère de l'agriculture, Cahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine protégée « Abondance », homologated by arrêté of 29 August 2018, version in force from 27 December 2018 (BO-Agri notice)spec
  2. [eamb-abon] INAO, Demande d'enregistrement d'AOP Abondance under Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92, summary sheet, eAmbrosia attachment 60383spec
  3. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov