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Cheese from France

Cantal PDOCantal

Cow milk is renneted at 30–34 °C, cut to wheat-to-maize-sized grains and pressed into a block called the tome. The tome rests for at least 10 hours, is milled and salted, then moulded and pressed a second time. The wheels ripen at least 30 days at 6–12 °C and at least 95 % humidity.

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe rules fix the steps, times and temperatures but no amounts. A full-size Cantal weighs 35–45 kg; a reduced-format ('petit') Cantal 8–10 kg.
Cow milkRenneted within 48 hours of the oldest milking (24 hours on farms)[cantal-cdc-2019]
RennetThe only coagulant allowed[cantal-cdc-2019]
Cultures of bacteria, yeasts and mouldsAllowed when shown to be safe[cantal-cdc-2019]
Dry saltMixed into the milled tome[cantal-cdc-2019]
Calcium chloride[cantal-cdc-2019]
Starterlactic cultures (Lactococcus and Leuconostoc in one pilot-scale make); rind starters (fungi) added for the rind

Total time across the recorded steps: 31 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countLactococcus lactisL. mesenteroides30–34 °C

What changes: Rennet goes into milk at 30–34 °C and it sets to a gel

Step 1 of 7
Rennet the milk
Time
22–45 min
Set
Temperature
30–34 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus lactis
L. mesenteroides
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: curd.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
soft gel
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

Cow milk is renneted at 30–34 °C, cut to wheat-to-maize-sized grains and pressed into a block called the tome. The tome rests for at least 10 hours, is milled and salted, then moulded and pressed a second time. The wheels ripen at least 30 days at 6–12 °C and at least 95 % humidity. Made in 7 steps over 31 days. The longest step, ripen, takes at least 30 days (Ministère de l'agriculture 2019) and runs at 6–12 °C (Ministère de l'agriculture 2019). Lactococcus lactis and Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. cremoris does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 30 daysSet[cantal-cdc-2019]Ripen
Temperature6–12 °CSet[cantal-cdc-2019]Ripen
AciditypH 5–5.4Set[cantal-cdc-2019]Let the tome mature

What makes this one different

Cantal is pressed twice. Between the pressings the acid block (tome) is milled and salted in the mass.

Milk
Cow milk; fat standardised to give at least 45 % fat in dry matter
Ripening
jeune 30–60 days, entre-deux 90–210 days, vieux at least 240 days
Composition
At least 45 % fat in dry matter; at least 57 % dry matter after 30 days
Size
35–45 kg in moulds 36–42 cm across; reduced format 8–10 kg

Related ferments

Variants

  • Petit (reduced-format) Cantal8–10 kg, moulds 20–22 cm across, pressed at least 12 hours.
  • Cantal jeune, entre-deux and vieuxRipened 30–60, 90–210 and 240 or more days, with at least 57, 58 and 60 % dry matter.

Safety

Raw or heat-treated milk; the rules require at least 30 days of ripening and ban freezing the milk, curd or young cheese. ANSES, the French food safety agency, names short-ripened pressed uncooked raw-milk cheeses among the main sources of Salmonella, Listeria and Shiga-toxin E. coli illness from raw-milk cheese in France. Its examples are Morbier, Reblochon and Saint-Nectaire, not Cantal. It advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity not to eat raw-milk cheeses other than pressed cooked cheeses such as Gruyère or Comté.

History and sources

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

A USDA bulletin of 1928 already describes the curd being pressed, left to ferment for 24 hours, then broken up and salted before moulding.

  1. [cantal-cdc-2019] Ministère de l'agriculture, Cahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine « Cantal » / « Fourme de Cantal », homologated by the arrêté of 3 January 2019 (JORF of 11 January 2019), Bulletin officiel du ministère de l'agriculture n° 2019-03 (BO-Agri)spec
  2. [cantal-sd-2020] European Commission, Application for approval of a non-minor amendment and single document 'Cantal'/'Fourme de Cantal', EU No PDO-FR-0113-AM02, Official Journal of the European Union C 46 of 11 February 2020, p. 14 (French text)spec
  3. [fretin2022] Frétin M. et al. 2022, Integration of multiomic data to characterize the influence of milk fat composition on Cantal-type cheese microbiota, Microorganisms 10(2):334paper
  4. [usda1928] Doane C.F., Lawson H.W., revised by Matheson K.J. 1928, Varieties of cheese, descriptions and analyses, USDA Bulletin 608archive
  5. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov