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Cheese from France, Auvergne

Fourme d'Ambert PDOFourme d'Ambert

Cow milk is seeded with Penicillium roqueforti and set with rennet at 30–35 °C. The curd is cut to corn-sized grains, drained in tall moulds without pressing, salted, and pierced with needles from the fourth day so the blue mould can grow inside. It ripens in a cold, humid cellar and may carry the name from day 28.

Fully documentedCheese18 days – 19 daysPDO (EU)Family: Blue-veined cheese family (Roquefort as template)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe specification fixes the steps but not the amounts. The consortium says one cheese of about 2.2 kg takes about 19 L of milk.
Cow milkAbout 19 L per cheeseStored on the farm for no more than 48 h after the oldest milking[sifam-dp2024][fa-cdc-2014]
Penicillium roquefortiAdded to the milk; it makes the blue veins[fa-cdc-2014][sifam-dp2024]
Lactic culturesHarmless bacteria, yeasts and moulds are allowed[fa-cdc-2014]
RennetThe only coagulant allowed[fa-cdc-2014]
SaltAs brine, dry salt or both, at the end of draining[fa-cdc-2014]
StarterLactic cultures and Penicillium roqueforti added to the milk

Total time across the recorded steps: 18 days – 19 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countPenicillium roqueforti30–35 °C

What changes: Blue mould spores, lactic cultures and rennet go into the milk, and it sets

Step 1 of 7
Seed the milk and add rennet
Time
Not documented
Temperature
30–35 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Penicillium roqueforti
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: coagulum.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
soft gel
Colour
white

Microbes at work in this step

lactic cultures and Penicillium roqueforti spores go into the milk; rennet sets it

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 seeded with Penicillium roqueforti and set with rennet at 30–35 °C. The curd is cut to corn-sized grains, drained in tall moulds without pressing, salted, and pierced with needles from the fourth day so the blue mould can grow inside. It ripens in a cold, humid cellar and may carry the name from day 28. Made in 7 steps over 18 days – 19 days. The longest step, ripen in a cold, humid cellar, takes at least 17 days (Ministère de l'agriculture 2013) and runs at 6–12 °C (Ministère de l'agriculture 2013). Penicillium roqueforti and Lactic acid bacteria do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 17 daysSet[fa-cdc-2014]Ripen in a cold, humid cellar
Temperature6–12 °CSet[fa-cdc-2014]Ripen in a cold, humid cellar

What makes this one different

Fourme d'Ambert is a blue cheese made like a tall drum. Its curd is never pressed and never broken down, so the corn-sized grains leave gaps where the mould grows after piercing. Its consortium calls it the mildest of the blue cheeses.

Milk
Cow milk only; farm cheeses use raw whole milk
Ripening
At least 28 days from renneting
Size
PDO rules: 17–21 cm high, 12.5–14 cm across, 1.9–2.5 kg; at least 50 % fat in dry matter

Related ferments

Variants

  • Fermier (farm-made)Raw whole milk from one farm, renneted within 16 h of the oldest milking.

Safety

The specification lets dairies heat-treat the milk, while farm-made cheese uses raw whole milk renneted within 16 hours of the oldest milking. It bans freezing the milk, curd or fresh cheese. After ripening, the cheese is held at 0–6 °C until day 28 from renneting. 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 Gruyère or Comté, because of Listeria, Salmonella and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli. That covers all farm-made cheese. It also covers dairy cheese whose milk was not heat-treated, because heat treatment is allowed but not required.

History and sources

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

Its history starts in the jasseries, the summer farmhouses of the Forez mountains; until the Second World War the cheese was made only on farms there [fa-sd-2010]. It was recognised as an appellation d'origine contrôlée in 1972 [sifam-dp2024], with Fourme d'Ambert and Fourme de Montbrison as synonyms of one appellation. An application to make them two was published in 2010 [fa-sd-2010], and the specification now in force applies since Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1207/2013 [fa-cdc-2014].

  1. [fa-cdc-2014] Ministère de l'agriculture, Cahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine « Fourme d'Ambert » associé à l'avis n° AGRT1413717V, in force since Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1207/2013, Bulletin officiel of 3 July 2014 (BO-Agri)spec
  2. [sifam-dp2024] Syndicat Interprofessionnel de la Fourme d'Ambert (SIFAm), AOP Fourme d'Ambert press kit, 2024other
  3. [fa-sd-2010] European Commission, Application for amendment and summary 'Fourme d'Ambert' ou 'Fourme de Montbrison', No CE FR-PDO-0117-0119-30.03.2006, Official Journal of the European Union C 27 of 3 February 2010, p. 8 (French text)spec
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov