Washed-rind cheeses

Also called Algunder Ziegenkäse, Formaggio di capra di Lagundo.

Algunder Ziegenkäse is a semi-cooked, raw-milk goat cheese from Algund near Merano, made from April to October from pasture-fed goats. The milk is set with starter and rennet at 32 °C, the curd is cooked at 40 °C, moulded, brined for 8 hours and ripened 6 weeks to 3 months at 15 °C, its rind washed weekly with salt water until it turns yellow-red.

Rind

Washed, thin, soft, ridged by the moulds, yellow-reddish

Size

Octagonal or cylindrical, Ø 10–12 cm, height 6–8 cm, about 1 kg

Season

April to October

1. Warm the milk, add starter and rennet20 min · 32 °C
2. Rest the curd, then cut it20 min
3. Cook the curd30 min · 40 °C
4. Mould and drain18–24 h
5. Brine8 h
6. Ripen and wash the rind42 days – 3 months · 15 °C

Safety: Made from raw goat milk and ripened at least 6 weeks. The US FDA says ageing raw-milk cheese for 60 days may not remove E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, and Listeria may grow in some cheeses while they age. The CDC says people at higher risk, including pregnant women, people 65 or older and people with weak immunity, should avoid raw-milk cheese unless it is heated to 165 °F (74 °C) or until steaming hot.

• ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet Algunder Ziegenkäse (Formaggio di capra di Lagundo)
• Ministero delle politiche agricole, Elenco nazionale dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali (L. 238/2016 art. 12), Allegato I, Provincia autonoma di Bolzano, no. 24 (copy hosted by informacibo.it, 2018)
• ONAF, scheda formaggio 'Algunder ziegenkäse' (id 795)
• US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Days
• US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infection

Also called Fromage de Bergues (registered mark).

A lean farm cheese of French Flanders. Raw cow milk, partly skimmed, is set with rennet, the curd is cut fine and drained in perforated moulds stacked so the upper ones press the lower. The cheeses are salted and ripened at least three weeks in thick-walled cellars above ground, washed regularly with beer.

Rind

Yellow, ochre or pink

Size

About 20 cm diameter

Fat

Lean, 20–25% fat

1. Skim and set
2. Cut fine
3. Drain in stacked moulds
4. Salt
5. Ripen and wash with beerat least 21 days

Safety: Made from raw milk and ripened at least three weeks, which is under the 60 days the FDA studied. 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 during ageing.

• Wikipédia (fr), Bergues (fromage)
• US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Days

Also called Chaumes Le Véritable, Chaumes cheese.

Chaumes is a branded French soft cheese of pasteurised cow milk with a bright orange rind. The maker says the rind is brushed and washed during ripening and coloured by red-smear cultures, and a scientific review lists it among smear-ripened cheeses with mould. It is a factory cheese with no protected designation.

Milk

Pasteurised cow milk

Composition

Maker's figures: 48–52% dry matter, 25 g fat and 2.2 g salt per 100 g, at least 50% fat in dry matter

Storage

2–8 °C (maker's storage instruction)

Status

Brand name; no protected designation

1. Pasteurise the milk
2. Add cultures and rennet
3. Mould, drain and salt
4. Brush and wash the rind while ripening
5. Keep chilled

• Savencia Fromage & Dairy, product specification Chaumes Le Véritable 2 kg, version 3 of 10 January 2023 (issued 13 June 2025), via a distributor
• Ritschard J.S., Schuppler M. 2024, The microbial diversity on the surface of smear-ripened cheeses and its impact on cheese quality and safety, Foods 13(2):214
• Sutthiwong N., Lekavat S., Dufossé L. 2023, Involvement of versatile bacteria belonging to the genus Arthrobacter in milk and dairy products, Foods 12(6):1270

Pasteurised cow milk, standardised to about 30 g/L fat, is curdled with cultures and a coagulant in about an hour, moulded, pressed and brined. The cheeses ripen in cellars at 8–12 °C and 90–95% humidity and are washed; the beer version is washed in Chimay Trappist beer, and the dairy says Chimay Blue beer is also mixed into the milk. The figures come only from the producer.

Milk

cow milk, pasteurised

Ripening

In cellars at 8–12 °C; the producer gives no ripening time

Size

2 kg wheel or loaf

1. Pasteurise and standardise the milk
2. Curdle1 h
3. Mould and press
4. Brine1.3–45 h
5. Wash and ripen in the cellar8–12 °C

Safety: The milk is pasteurised.

• Chimay (abbey brewery and cheese dairy), 'Our cheeses', how the cheeses are made
• Chimay, product page 'Chimay à la Bière'

Also called Cœur d'Avesnes.

A small heart-shaped cow cheese of the Maroilles family, soft and unpressed, with an orange washed rind. The curd is moulded into a heart, drained and salted, then ripened about four weeks in a cellar and washed several times. Sources disagree on whether the milk is raw or pasteurised.

Size

Heart shape, 9–10 cm wide and 3–4 cm thick, about 180–200 g

Rind

Washed, orange

Season

Made from autumn to spring (one source)

1. Curdle the milk
2. Mould into a heart and drain
3. Salt
4. Ripen in a cellar, washing the rind28 days

Safety: Sources disagree on whether the milk is raw or pasteurised, so check the label. CDC advises people who are pregnant, 65 or older or have a weakened immune system to avoid any cheese made with unpasteurised milk.

• Fromages de terroirs, 'Le Cœur d'Arras ou Cœur d'Avesnes' (article 1724)
• Produits laitiers de France (French dairy interbranch site), 'Cœur d'Arras'
• US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infection

Also called baguette laonnoise, baguette de Thiérache, losange.

A cow milk cheese of the Thiérache and Avesnois made from fresh Maroilles curd, kneaded with tarragon, pepper and sometimes clove. It is shaped as a baguette, square, oblong or diamond, once as a dolphin, and rests 2 or 3 months in a cellar where its rind is often washed with salt water and turns orange.

1. Prepare the milk
2. Knead the fresh curd with herbs and spices
3. Ripen2–3 months

• Wikipédia (fr), Dauphin (fromage)

Also called Esrom, Esrom ost.

A semi-soft Danish cow-milk cheese with a thin yellow-orange smear rind. Fat-standardised milk is pasteurised, set with starter and rennet, cut, stirred and warmed, then lightly pressed, cooled and salted. The rind is treated with a smear culture and the cheeses are stored at high humidity for at least two weeks.

Milk

Danish cow milk, fat-standardised and low-pasteurised

Ripening

At least 2 weeks of storage

Composition

Four fat levels; for example at least 45 % fat in dry matter with at least 50 % dry matter

Size

Rectangles about twice as long as wide; 0.2–0.5 kg, 1.3–2.0 kg, or at least 2 kg

1. Standardise, pasteurise and set the milk
2. Cut, stir, drain whey and warm
3. Mould and press lightly
4. Cool and salt
5. Smear and store humidat least 14 days

Safety: Made from pasteurised milk; stored at least two weeks before sale. A review says soft cheeses such as smear-ripened ones are more susceptible to contamination and growth of Listeria monocytogenes, and that smearing machines were found to be an important source of it (Ritschard and Schuppler 2024).

• Fødevarestyrelsen 2025, Produktspecifikation for Esrom (September 2025)
• Ritschard J.S., Schuppler M. 2024, The microbial diversity on the surface of smear-ripened cheeses and its impact on cheese quality and safety, Foods 13(2):214

An extra-aged Danish smear-ripened cow cheese with a strong smell, sold under the Dansk Ostetradition brand. It is made from pasteurised milk with a starter culture and rennet, and a sticky surface smear forms on the rind as it ripens.

Fat

26 g fat per 100 g

1. Set the pasteurised milk
2. Ripen with a surface smear
3. Keep cold

Safety: The milk is pasteurised and the retailer lists storage at no more than 8 °C.

• ICA (Swedish retailer), product page 'Gamle Ole 26% ca 500g Dansk Ostetradition', supplier Arla Foods

Also called L'Ami du Chambertin, Ami du Chambertin.

L'Ami du Chambertin is a tall, soft washed-rind cow-milk cheese created in 1950 by Raymond Gaugry at Brochon, next to Gevrey-Chambertin, with a method the dairy says it took from the farm women of the Côte-d'Or. The dairy's washed-rind cheeses are soured slowly for about a day, drained in moulds, dry-salted and washed by hand with brine, enriched with marc de Bourgogne or wine depending on the cheese, for at least four weeks. Retailers describe this one as washed with marc de Bourgogne.

Milk

Cow milk; pasteurised according to a US retailer (the producer does not say)

Ripening

At least 4 weeks (producer's method); 6–12 weeks (retailer)

Rind

Thin, supple, pleated, shiny, red-orange; washed with marc de Bourgogne according to a retailer

Shape

Tall (haut de forme)

1. Ripen the milk with lactic ferments2–3 h
2. Set slowly with a little rennet20 h
3. Mould and drain
4. Dry, salt and rest2–3 days
5. Wash by hand with brine and marc
6. Ripen at least four weeks28 days – 2.8 months

Safety: A US retailer lists the cheese as made from pasteurised milk; the producer's pages do not say. The US FDA says the high moisture of soft cheeses makes them susceptible to the growth of Listeria monocytogenes, if present.

• US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Days
• Fromagerie Gaugry, product page 'L'Ami du Chambertin'
• Fromagerie Gaugry, 'La fabrication' (the dairy's method for its fresh, washed-rind and bloomy cheeses)
• Fromagerie Gaugry, 'Notre tradition fromagère' (dairy history)
• Fairfield Cheese Company, 'L'Ami du Chambertin' (retail description)

A Trappist pressed, uncooked cow cheese from the abbey of Mont des Cats in French Flanders. The rind is washed several times in a salt solution coloured with annatto (roucou), which turns it orange, and the cheese ripens about a month. It is a disc about 25 cm across and 2 kg.

Milk

Cow milk from farms around the abbey

Ripening

About one month

Size

Disc 25 cm across and 4 cm thick, about 2 kg

1. Set and press
2. Wash with salt and annatto
3. Ripen28–35 days

Safety: Sources disagree on whether the milk is raw or pasteurised: Androuet says the monks take raw milk from about 25 farms, and cheese.com says it is gently pasteurised. If the milk is raw, 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 during ageing. When the milk is raw, 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 the cheese unless it is heated to 165 °F (74 °C) or until steaming hot.

• Androuet (cheese shop), 'Abbaye du Mont-des-Cats'
• cheese.com, 'Abbaye du Mont des Cats'
• US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Days
• US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infection

Also called fromage d'Oka, Oka cheese, fromage Oka.

Oka is a washed-rind cow cheese from Québec, made by Trappist monks at Oka. Brother Alphonse Juin, who had made Port-du-Salut cheese in France, came to Oka in 1893. The cheese ripens on cypress slats, about 30 days for the regular cheese and 60 days for the classic.

Milk

Cow milk, raw or pasteurised

Ripening

About 30 days (regular) or 60 days (classic), on cypress planks

Size

Large rounds of about 2.6 kg or small ones of about 225 g

1. Make the curd from cow milk
2. Wash the rind and ripen on cypress planks30 days – 2 months

• La Presse (Montréal), 16 October 1985, Alimentation section, article on cheeses made in Canada (Oka passage), digitised by Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec
• Laperrière G., Oger, Pierre, named Dom Marie-Antoine, Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 14
• Yang E., Fan L., Jiang Y., Doucette C., Fillmore S. 2012, Antimicrobial activity of bacteriocin-producing lactic acid bacteria isolated from cheeses and yogurts, AMB Express 2:48, doi:10.1186/2191-0855-2-48
• CooksInfo, Oka Cheese (updated 20 April 2022)

Also called Pálpusztai sajt, Palpusztai, Pálpuszta cheese.

Pasteurised cow milk is soured with lactic cultures and set, and the curd is cut small and left to drain and firm on trays without heating or pressing. The pieces are brined, then ripened two to three weeks in a very damp cellar while Brevibacterium linens is smeared on daily, giving the small soft cheese its pink rind and very strong smell.

Milk

Pasteurised cow milk

Ripening

About 2 to 3 weeks, smeared daily

Size

Small cubes about 5 cm across

1. Pasteurise and standardise the milk72–75 °C
2. Sour and set the milk
3. Cut the curd small
4. Drain and turn on trays
5. Brine50 min – 1 h · 18 % salt
6. Smear and ripen in a damp cellar14–21 days

Safety: It is made from pasteurised milk, heated to 72–75 °C for a few seconds in a dairy-school account [jfb2009].

• Kocsis E. 2009, Le Pálpusztai, Journal Francophone de Budapest (21 September 2009), quoting a teacher at the Csermajor dairy school
• Ács B. 2025, Mitől olyan büdös, és mégis a legfinomabb magyar sajt a pálpusztai?, Telex (13 June 2025)
• Wikipedia, Pálpusztai cheese (outline only)

This entry joins two Walloon names that the sources treat separately. No source found describes a cheese called Plateau de Herve; the Herve plateau is the home of Herve PDO, which has its own entry. In Nivelles, the tarte al djote (djote is Walloon for chard) has a filling, the makayance, made from bètchèye, a boulette-de-Nivelles-type cheese crumbled with chard, parsley, onion, eggs and butter.

Milk

cow milk

Use

Bètchèye is crumbled into the makayance filling of the tarte al djote, which is baked about 10 minutes at 200 °C

Made like Washed-rind (smear-ripened) cheese family (Munster and Époisses as templates).

• RTBF, recipe sheet 'Tarte al djote et tarte de Bruxelles'
• Wikipedia, 'Tarte al d'jote'

Also called Remoudou, Herve Remoudou, Remoudou crémier.

Remoudou is a richer, whole-milk form of Herve, the washed-rind cow cheese of the Pays de Herve. Its name comes from the second, creamier milking ("rimoude", to milk again) once used for it. Today's Remoudou is made from pasteurised cow milk with rennet and cultures, washed with salted water as it ripens, and has an orange-yellow rind and a creamy, pungent paste.

Milk

Whole cow milk; pasteurised in current production

Composition

One commercial Remoudou has 52 % fat in dry matter and 2.1 g salt per 100 g

1. Set the milk
2. Cut, mould and salt
3. Ripen with washing
4. Keep coldup to 7 °C

Safety: The producer's specification requires Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella to be absent in 25 g and the cheese to be kept at 7 °C or below.

• Fromage de Herve ASBL, Informations générales sur le Fromage de Herve AOP (2020)
• Terre de fromages S.A., brochure (Herve AOP and Remoudou)
• Terre de fromages S.A. 2023, Fiche technique, Herve Remoudou crémier AOP 200 g (published 19 July 2023)

Also called Ridderost, Hertig (Swedish brand name).

Ridder is a Norwegian red-smear cow cheese developed by TINE in 1960 and related to Port Salut. It is made from pasteurised milk and cream with rennet, salt and nitrate, ripened under a surface smear and coloured on the rind with annatto. Red-smear cheeses like it smell strong but taste mild.

Milk

Pasteurised cow milk and cream

Fat

38 g fat per 100 g (Norwegian food composition table)

Salt

1.5 g salt per 100 g

Water

42 g water per 100 g

Rind

Smear-ripened, coloured with annatto; sold unwashed in foil (Classic) or washed and vacuum-packed

1. Set pasteurised milk and cream
2. Ripen under a red smear
3. Colour and pack

Safety: Made from pasteurised milk and cream.

• Mattilsynet (Norwegian Food Safety Authority), Matvaretabellen, 'Cheese, semi-hard, Ridderost', food ID 01.048
• TINE SA, product page 'Ridder'
• Aursnes J.P., 'rødkittost', Store norske leksikon (updated 31 May 2024)
• Matoppskrift.no (TINE recipe site), ingredient page 'Tine Ridder classic'

Rollot is a small soft cow-milk cheese from Picardy with a washed orange rind. The milk is renneted right after milking, moulded in round or heart-shaped forms, drained, salted and dried, then washed with salt water while it ripens three to six weeks in a cellar.

Size

About 300 g on average; round, 8–9 cm across and 3–4 cm thick, or heart-shaped

1. Rennet the fresh milk
2. Mould
3. Drain, salt and dry
4. Wash and ripen in the cellar21–42 days

• Wikipédia (fr), Rollot (fromage)

Also called Schnittkäse Malga Gardena, Formaggio "da taglio" Malga Gardena, Malga Gardena, Val Gardena slicing cheese.

Pasteurised mountain cow milk from Val Gardena is soured with lactic cultures and set with calf rennet at 35–37 °C. The curd is cut to the size of maize kernels, sometimes washed with hot water and lightly cooked, moulded without pressing and brined. The wheels ripen 20–100 days in damp rooms, wiped every two days with salt water and sometimes Brevibacterium linens and yeasts.

Rind

Thin, dry, inedible; light yellow to straw

Size

About 40 cm across, about 9 cm high, 7.5–9 kg

1. Pasteurise the milk and add cultures
2. Set with calf rennet35–37 °C
3. Cut and wash the curd
4. Semi-cook (for longer ageing)39–40 °C
5. Mould without pressing
6. Brine
7. Ripen with rind washes20 days – 3.3 months

• ONAF (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Formaggi), technical sheet «Schnittkäse Malga Gardena (Formaggio "da taglio" Malga Gardena)»

A soft washed-rind cow cheese made by Charles Martell at Hunts Court Farm in Gloucestershire from pasteurised milk and animal rennet. Salt goes on only after the cheese leaves its mould, and the wheels are immersed in perry, a pear cider, every four weeks while they mature. The rind turns orange and leathery and the paste runs.

1. Set with rennet and mould
2. Salt after unmoulding
3. Wash in perry and mature

• Culture magazine, cheese library, 'Stinking Bishop'

Raw whole milk from eight farms of the Tamié valley is warmed to 34 °C in a copper vat, matured 90 minutes with lactic cultures grown at the abbey, and set with calf rennet. The curd is cut to pea size, stirred about 20 minutes, moulded and pressed 3–4 hours, then brined 1–3 hours. In the abbey's vaulted cellars at 14 °C the cheeses are bathed in brine, rubbed and turned every two days until a saffron rind with a light white down forms.

Composition

Dry extract 50–53 % by weight; fat 51–53 % of dry matter

Output

About 400 kg of cheese a day

1. Warm and mature the milk1.5 h · 34 °C
2. Rennet, cut and stir20 min
3. Mould and press3–4 h
4. Brine1–3 h
5. Ripen with brine washing14 °C

Safety: Made from raw, unpasteurised milk; the abbey's dairy tests the milk and the cheeses. The US FDA says ageing raw-milk cheese for 60 days may not remove E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, and Listeria may grow in some cheeses while they age. The CDC says people at higher risk, including pregnant women, people 65 or older and people with weak immunity, should avoid raw-milk cheese unless it is heated to 165 °F (74 °C) or until steaming hot.

• Abbaye de Tamié, description of the abbey's cheese dairy and the making of Tamié (the community's own text, published in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes tourism database, Parc naturel régional du Massif des Bauges)
• Wikipedia, Abbaye de Tamié (outline)
• US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Days
• US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infection

Also called Vieux-Boulogne, Vieux Boulogne.

Vieux-Boulogne is a square, soft cow-milk cheese from the Boulogne-sur-Mer area whose rind is washed regularly with local beer as it ripens for 7–9 weeks. It has an orange-red rind and a very strong smell.

Milk

Cow milk from herds between Cap Blanc-Nez and Cap Gris-Nez

Ripening

7–9 weeks, washed regularly with Saint-Léonard beer

Size

About 11 cm square and 4 cm thick, up to 500 g

Made like Washed-rind (smear-ripened) cheese family (Munster and Époisses as templates).

Safety: Wikipedia describes it as an unpasteurised cheese with a soft, moist texture. The US FDA says the high moisture of soft cheeses makes them susceptible to the growth of Listeria monocytogenes, if present. The CDC advises people who are pregnant, 65 or older or have a weakened immune system to avoid cheese made with unpasteurised milk.

• Androuet (cheese shop), Vieux Boulogne product page (milk, size, 7–9 weeks, washed with Saint-Léonard beer, made by three cheesemakers)
• Wikipedia, Vieux-Boulogne (outline only)
• US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Days
• US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infection

Also called Gris de Lille, Puant de Lille, Maroilles gris.

Vieux-Lille is Maroilles curd taken much further. It is salted twice and its ripening is stretched over months with repeated washing in salt water, until after five to six months the paste is grey, sticky and strongly smelling.

Rind

Practically rindless, grey, sticky, ammoniacal

1. Make Maroilles-type curd
2. Salt twice
3. Wash in salt water for months5–6 months

Safety: The sources do not say which milk Vieux-Lille itself uses; its base cheese, Maroilles, is made from raw or pasteurised milk (French Wikipedia). The US FDA says the high moisture of soft cheeses makes them susceptible to the growth of Listeria monocytogenes, if present. The CDC advises people who are pregnant, 65 or older or have a weakened immune system to avoid cheese made with unpasteurised milk.

• Wikipédia (fr), Maroilles (fromage), section Le vieux-lille
• US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Days
• US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infection

Weinkäse is a German soft cheese ripened under a red smear, like Limburger and Romadur. Its name means 'wine cheese'.

Milk

cow milk

Smear

A red smear protects cheeses such as Limburger, Romadur and Weinkäse from drying out and from other microbes

Made like Washed-rind (smear-ripened) cheese family (Munster and Époisses as templates).

Safety: The sources do not say whether the milk is raw. The US FDA says the high moisture of soft cheeses makes them susceptible to the growth of Listeria monocytogenes, if present. The CDC advises people who are pregnant, 65 or older or have a weakened immune system to avoid cheese made with unpasteurised milk. The FEI project summary on red-smear soft cheeses says spraying young cheeses with smear from older ones can spread unwanted microbes through a dairy when ripening goes wrong, above all Listeria. In its test with Listeria monocytogenes deliberately added at a very high level, the growing smear did not specifically inhibit it; the fully formed smear then cut its count 1,000- to 10,000-fold over 2 weeks in the pack. Commercial soft cheeses it tested carried enterococci, pseudomonads and enterobacteria as contaminants at 10³–10⁶ CFU/cm².

• Forschungskreis der Ernährungsindustrie (FEI), AiF project 12780 N, Entwicklung und Einsatz definierter Oberflächen-Reifungskulturen für Weichkäse (defined surface-ripening cultures for soft cheese), Bundesanstalt für Milchforschung Kiel, 2001–2003, project summary
• US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Days
• US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infection