Beaufort () is a firm, raw cow's milk cheese associated with the gruyère family. An Alpine cheese, it is produced in Beaufortain,

Tarentaise valley The Tarentaise Valley (french: Vallée de la Tarentaise, ; frp, Tarentèsa) is a valley of the Isère River in the heart of the French Alps, located in the Savoy region of France. The valley is named for the ancient town of ''Darantasia'', the ...

and

Maurienne Maurienne ( frp, Môrièna) is one of the provinces of Savoy, corresponding to the arrondissement of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in France. It is also the original name of the capital of the province, now Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. Location The Mau ...

, which are located in the

Savoie Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè'' or ''Savouè-d'Avâl''; English: ''Savoy'' ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southeastern France. Located in the French Alps, its prefecture is Chambéry. In 2019, Savoie had a population ...

region of the

French Alps The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, such as ...

Varieties

There are three varieties of Beaufort: *Beaufort d'été (or summer Beaufort) *Beaufort d'alpage (made in chalets in the Alps on high pastures) *Beaufort d'hiver (winter Beaufort)

AOC Status

Beaufort was first certified as an

appellation d'origine contrôlée An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical bou ...

in 1968.

Preparation and production

Beaufort is produced in the Beaufortain, Tarentaise and Maurienne valleys, as well as parts of the Val d'Arly valley, all located on 450,000 hectares of the Savoie region. The cheese is prepared using of milk for every of cheese desired. The milk used in one variety comes from the Tarine or Abondance cows that graze in the Alps. To make Beaufort, the milk is first heated and then cast into a beechwood hoop or mold which gives the cheese its distinctive concave shape. It is pressed for 24 hours, taken out of the hoops and then cooled for another 24 hours. Once cooled, it is soaked in brine and then stored on spruce shelves for one to two months. During this part of the process, one side of the cheese is hand-salted each morning, then turned over and massaged each afternoon. Once the cheese rind has reached a level of maturity, the cheese is smear-ripened with a mixture called morge which produces its strong flavour and pale yellow rind.Fox, Patrick. ''Cheese: Chemistry, Physics and Microbiology''. p. 200. The prepared cheese must then age for 6–12 months, or even longer, in a cool mountain cellar. Fabrication_du_Beaufort_(4).jpg, Reheating milk Fabrication_du_Beaufort_(5).jpg, Milk curdling Fabrication_du_Beaufort_(6).jpg, Scaling of milk Fabrication_du_Beaufort_(11).jpg, Brewing of milk Fabrication_du_Beaufort_(21).jpg, Mass of curd removed in linen cloth Fabrication_du_Beaufort_(22).jpg, Molding in a circle of beech wood Fabrication_du_Beaufort_(29).jpg, Molding in a circle of beech wood Fabrication_du_Beaufort_(33).jpg, Pressing Beaufort_dans_la_cave_de_la_coopérative_laitière_de_Moûtiers_(2).jpg, Ripening of Beaufort

Taste and texture

Beaufort cheese is pale yellow, with a smooth and creamy texture and lacks holes like other Gruyère-style cheeses, Comté, Vacherin Fribourgeois or

Emmental The Emmental ( en, Emme Valley) is a valley in west-central Switzerland, forming part of the canton of Bern. It is a hilly landscape comprising the basins of the rivers Emme (river), Emme and Ilfis (river), Ilfis. The region is mostly devoted to ...

. Beaufort also has a very distinct aroma, sometime described as strong or mildly pungent and reminiscent of the pastures on which the Tarentaise and Abondance cows graze to provide the milk used for the cheese. Beaufort is commonly used to make

fondue Fondue (, , ) is a Swiss melted cheese dish served in a communal pot ( ''caquelon'' or fondue pot) over a portable stove () heated with a candle or spirit lamp, and eaten by dipping bread into the cheese using long-stemmed forks. It was promoted ...

because it melts easily. One of the many cheeses that go well with white

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

, Beaufort is often enjoyed with fish, especially

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...

References

External links