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Cheese from France, Savoie

Reblochon

Whole raw cow milk is set with calf rennet at 30–35 °C within a day of milking, cut to grains the size of wheat or maize, and pressed under a weight in small moulds. After salting, the cheese dries in a warm room where it is washed, then ripens in a cool cave until its thin yellow rind is covered with a short white bloom of Geotrichum.

Recipe

Reblochon, a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Myrabella, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Amounts from a sourceThe specification gives the starter dose as a share of the milk and sets no other amounts.
Whole raw cow milkFrom two milkings at least 8 h apart; nothing added or removed, no heat treatment[cdc-reb2020]
Calf rennetTraditional or commercial rennet from the stomach of unweaned calves[cdc-reb2020]
Lactic starter (grand levain)At most 2 % in dairies, 0.5 % on farmsSelected cultures from a list kept by the producers' group[cdc-reb2020]
Selected fungal cultures for the rind[cdc-reb2020]
Fine salt or brine[cdc-reb2020]
Carotene (E160a) or annatto (E160b), optionalRind colour only; colouring the paste is banned[cdc-reb2020]
Starterlactic starter (grand levain) plus selected fungal cultures

Total time across the recorded steps: 1.7 h – 1.8 h

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
up to 10 °C

What changes: Starting material: whole raw cow milk, used within a day of milking

Step 1 of 7
Use the milk raw within a day
Time
Not documented
Temperature
up to 10 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
S. thermophilus
L. delbrueckii
Geotrichum candidum
Yeasts
Geotrichum

Output: whole raw milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
white

Microbes at work in this step

raw-milk flora

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 raw cow milk is set with calf rennet at 30–35 °C within a day of milking, cut to grains the size of wheat or maize, and pressed under a weight in small moulds. After salting, the cheese dries in a warm room where it is washed, then ripens in a cool cave until its thin yellow rind is covered with a short white bloom of Geotrichum. Made in 7 steps over 1.7 h – 1.8 h. The longest step, mould and press, takes at least 1.5 h (Ministère de l'agriculture 2020). Lactic starter bacteria; Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus in a Reblochon-style study and Geotrichum candidum, which the specification credits with the white bloom on the rind; in a pasteurised-milk Reblochon-style cheese it was the most active microbe on the rind do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 1.5 hSet[cdc-reb2020]Mould and press
Temperatureup to 10 °CSet[cdc-reb2020]Use the milk raw within a day

What makes this one different

Reblochon is made from whole raw milk within 24 hours of milking, and farm cheese is made twice a day straight after milking with no chilling. It is pressed under 1.5–2 kg per cheese, washed while drying, and ripened under a white Geotrichum bloom rather than a sticky red smear.

Milk
Whole raw milk from two milkings, stored at 10 °C or less and renneted within 24 h of the oldest milking
Setting
Rennet at 30–35 °C, set in 10–20 min; curd the size of a wheat to maize grain
Pressing
Pressed at 1.5–2 kg per cheese, for at least 1 h 30 min in dairies or 6 h on farms
Washing
Drying room at 14–21 °C, RH above 90%, until day 4 or more, with a compulsory washing
Ripening
In the cave at 10–15 °C, RH above 90%, until day 12 or more; then packed and ripened to at least day 18
Size
About 14 cm across and 3.5 cm high, 450–550 g; fat in dry matter at least 45%

Related ferments

Variants

  • Petit ReblochonAbout 9 cm across, in 9 cm moulds; press weight over 500 g.
  • Reblochon fermierMade on the farm twice a day with unchilled milk, pressed at least 6 h, at most 0.5 % starter.

Safety

The milk is raw by rule; the specification bans any pasteuriser, thermiser or microfilter in the workshop. The cheese is ripened to at least day 16, or day 18 if packed, well under 60 days. Jones and colleagues (2019) report that two outbreaks of haemolytic uraemic syndrome in France in 2018 were linked to eating Reblochon. The US FDA says ageing raw-milk cheese for 60 days may not eliminate or adequately reduce E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, and Listeria may grow in some cheeses while they age. The US CDC says people at higher risk of Listeria infection, including pregnant women, people 65 or older and people with weak immunity, should avoid cheese made from raw milk unless it is heated to 165 °F (74 °C) or until steaming hot.

History and sources

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

The specification says the name comes from the word Reblâche, "to milk a second time". The specification says the practice was common from the 13th century. A farmer who rented an alp paid the owner a fee, the cows were not milked out when the owner measured the milk, and the second milking gave a little rich, creamy milk that went into small cheeses. Ripening began on the alp farm and later moved to affineurs in the valleys, and trade in Reblochon grew in the 19th century. It was registered as a PDO on 21 June 1996 (Regulation (EC) No 1107/96).

  1. [cdc-reb2020] Ministère de l'agriculture, Avis relatif à l'approbation par la Commission européenne d'une modification mineure du cahier des charges de l'AOP « Reblochon » ou « Reblochon de Savoie », with the specification in force from 4 December 2020 (homologated by arrêté of 31 July 2020; BO-Agri n° 2020-52)spec
  2. [monnet2016] Monnet C., Dugat-Bony E., Swennen D., Beckerich J.M., Irlinger F., Fraud S., Bonnarme P. 2016, Investigation of the activity of the microorganisms in a Reblochon-style cheese by metatranscriptomic analysis, Frontiers in Microbiology 7:536, doi:10.3389/fmicb.2016.00536paper
  3. [cogan2014] Cogan T.M. et al. 2014, Biodiversity of the surface microbial consortia from Limburger, Reblochon, Livarot, Tilsit, and Gubbeen cheeses, Microbiology Spectrum 2(1), CM-0010-2012, doi:10.1128/microbiolspec.cm-0010-2012 (abstract)paper
  4. [eamb-reb] European Commission, eAmbrosia register of geographical indications, 'Reblochon' / 'Reblochon de Savoie' PDO-FR-0130 (protected 21 June 1996, Official Journal L 148)gov
  5. [fda-rawcheese2016] US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Daysgov
  6. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov
  7. [jones2019] Jones G., Lefèvre S., Donguy M.P. et al. 2019, Outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O26 paediatric haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) cases associated with the consumption of soft raw cow's milk cheeses, France, March to May 2019, Eurosurveillance 24(22):1900305 (discussion section)paper