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Cheese from France, Burgundy

Époisses PDOÉpoisses

Whole cow milk sets slowly, mostly by lactic souring with a little rennet, for more than 16 hours. The curd is cut coarsely, drained in moulds without pressing and dry-salted. For at least four weeks the cheese is washed one to three times a week, first with water and then with stronger and stronger Marc de Bourgogne, until the rind is orange to brick red.

Recipe

Époisses PDO, a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Sominsky at English Wikipedia, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
No fixed amounts recordedThe specification fixes the ingredients and steps, not amounts. Colouring agents are banned.
Whole cow milkBrune, Montbéliarde or French Simmental cows; used the day it is collected, or within 24 h on farms and with daily collection[eambrosia-59562]
Harmless cultures of bacteria, yeasts and mouldsThe only cultures the specification allows[eambrosia-59562]
RennetThe only coagulant; the set is mostly lactic[eambrosia-59562]
Dry salt[eambrosia-59562]
Marc de BourgogneAdded to the washing water in rising strength[eambrosia-59562]

Total time across the recorded steps: 29 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countLactic acid bacteriaMilk proteinGel (curd)

What changes: Lactic bacteria sour whole milk slowly, and it sets into a fragile curd overnight

Step 1 of 5
Set the milk slowly by lactic souring
Time
at least 16 h
Set
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Yeasts
Geotrichum candidum

Output: lactic curd.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
fragile, acid curd
Colour
white

Microbes at work in this step

lactic bacteria sour the milk; a little rennet helps it set

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

Whole cow milk sets slowly, mostly by lactic souring with a little rennet, for more than 16 hours. The curd is cut coarsely, drained in moulds without pressing and dry-salted. For at least four weeks the cheese is washed one to three times a week, first with water and then with stronger and stronger Marc de Bourgogne, until the rind is orange to brick red. Made in 5 steps over 29 days. The longest step, wash with water, then with Marc de Bourgogne, takes at least 28 days (INAO 2006). Lactic acid bacteria that set the curd and Debaryomyces hansenii and Geotrichum candidum do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 28 daysSet[eambrosia-59562]Wash with water, then with Marc de Bourgogne
Temperature4 °CMeasured[irlinger2021]Keep cold after ripening
AciditypH up to 4.5Set[eambrosia-59562]Drain without pressing and dry-salt

What makes this one different

Époisses is set mainly by slow lactic souring, not by rennet, so its curd is fragile and is drained without pressing. Its rind is washed with Marc de Bourgogne in rising strength. Most washed-rind cheeses, such as Maroilles, are rennet-set and washed with brine alone.

Milk
Whole milk only from Brune, Montbéliarde or French Simmental cows, made into cheese the day it is collected
Setting
Lactic-dominant set of more than 16 h; pH below 4.5 at unmoulding; drained without pressing and dry-salted
Washing
Washed 1–3 times a week with water, then water with more and more Marc de Bourgogne, for at least 4 weeks
Ripening
At least 4 weeks
Size
250–350 g (95–115 mm across) or 700–1100 g (165–190 mm); fat in dry matter at least 50%

Related ferments

Safety

The specification requires a mostly lactic set (more than 16 h) and a cheese pH below 4.5 at unmoulding. Milk is made into cheese the day it is collected, or within 24 h where collection is daily or the cheese is made on the farm. Feeds that risk bacterial contamination are banned from the herd's ration, and keeping milk or curd frozen or holding cheeses in a modified atmosphere is forbidden. The sources do not say whether the milk is raw; Wikipedia says it may be raw or pasteurised. For raw-milk cheeses, ANSES names Listeria, Salmonella and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli as the main hazards. It advises pregnant women, people over 65, people with weak immunity and young children not to eat them, except cooked pressed ones such as Comté, which this soft cheese is not.

History and sources

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

Legend credits Cistercian monks at Époisses in the early 16th century; farm women then improved the making. Brillat-Savarin called it the king of cheeses in 1825. By 1940 an estimated 500 cheeses a week were shipped to Autun, Avallon, Dijon, Paris and Semur. Production declined after the First World War and had almost stopped by the 1950s; Robert and Simone Berthaut relaunched it in 1956. It became an appellation by decree on 14 May 1991.

Starter
The sources we found do not say how its fermentation begins.
  1. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov
  2. [eambrosia-59562] INAO, Cahier des charges AOP Époisses (2006 version), eAmbrosia attachment 59562spec
  3. [irlinger2021] Irlinger F., Monnet C. 2021, Temporal differences in microbial composition of Époisses cheese rinds during ripening and storage, Journal of Dairy Science 104:7500–7508, doi:10.3168/jds.2021-20123paper
  4. [wiki-epoisses] Wikipedia, Époisses (history, packaging and milk treatment)wiki