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Cheese from France

Port-Salut / Saint-PaulinPort-Salut

Cow milk, usually pasteurised, is soured with lactic cultures and set quickly with rennet. The cut curd is washed in water or brine, pressed into a flat round and brined, then ripened about four weeks at around 12 °C while the rind is washed often, giving a firm but supple semi-hard cheese.

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe standard sets limits for optional additives and no amounts for the main ingredients.
Cow milkGenerally pasteurised[nsr-saintpaulin]
Lactic acid bacteria (lactic ferments)[nsr-saintpaulin]
Rennet or other suitable coagulating enzymes[nsr-saintpaulin]
SaltAs brine[nsr-saintpaulin]
Calcium chloride, optionalAt most 200 mg per kg of milk[nsr-saintpaulin]
Annatto and beta-carotene, optionalAt most 600 mg per kg of cheese[nsr-saintpaulin]
Starterlactic ferments

Total time across the recorded steps: 28 days

Start
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What changes: Lactic ferments go into pasteurised cow milk

Step 1 of 5
Add lactic ferments to the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

The standard says the milk is generally pasteurised but gives no temperatures. Output: cultured milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
white

Microbes at work in this step

lactic ferments begin souring the milk

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, usually pasteurised, is soured with lactic cultures and set quickly with rennet. The cut curd is washed in water or brine, pressed into a flat round and brined, then ripened about four weeks at around 12 °C while the rind is washed often, giving a firm but supple semi-hard cheese. Made in 5 steps over 28 days. The longest step, ripen, washing the rind, takes 28 days (CONACYT El Salvador 1968) and runs at 12 °C (CONACYT El Salvador 1968).

Key numbers
Main step28 daysSet[nsr-saintpaulin]Ripen, washing the rind
Temperature12 °CSet[nsr-saintpaulin]Ripen, washing the rind

What makes this one different

Saint-Paulin is a washed-curd, washed-rind cheese ripened only about four weeks, so its paste stays firm but supple. Unlike Reblochon, which is made from raw milk, it is usually made from pasteurised milk, and under the Codex standard a Saint-Paulin made outside France must name its country.

Milk
Cow milk, generally pasteurised
Ripening
About 4 weeks at about 12 °C, rind washed often
Size
About 20 cm across, 4–6 cm high, 1.3–2 kg; Petit Saint-Paulin 8–13 cm, about 0.25 kg; fat at least 40 % of dry matter; moisture at most 56 %

Related ferments

Variants

  • Petit Saint-Paulin8–13 cm across, about 0.25 kg.

Safety

The milk is generally pasteurised.

History and sources

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

A regional heritage survey (2022) records that Cistercians took over the renovated priory at Port-Rhingeard, Entrammes, on 20 February 1815 and named it Port-du-Salut, and that Pope Pius VII made it an abbey on 10 December 1816. The abbey's cheese dairy grew from 1850 and produced the Trappist cheese, the famous "Port Salut". The brand was sold in 1959, but craft cheese-making at the abbey went on until 1988.

  1. [nsr-saintpaulin] CONACYT El Salvador, Norma Salvadoreña Recomendada NSR 67.00.205:99, Queso Saint-Paulin (adoption of Codex standard C-13-1968), Acuerdo No. 818 of 26 Sep 2000spec
  2. [boulares2011] Boulares M., Mankai M., Hassouna M. 2011, Effect of activating lactoperoxidase system in cheese milk on the quality of Saint-Paulin cheese, International Journal of Dairy Technology 64(1):75–83, doi:10.1111/j.1471-0307.2010.00646.x (abstract)paper
  3. [gertrude-ps] Barreau P., Bonenfant A. 2022, Prieuré puis abbaye de trappistes Notre-Dame du Port-du-Salut, Inventaire du patrimoine, Région Pays de la Loire, dossier IA53004483gov