Identity card
This unpasteurized hard pressed cheese (45% fat) was already known in the days of Pliny the Elder. In the 12th century, the monks from the Aubrac abbey described how it was made, which was primarily by local shepherds at the end of the 19th century. After a sharp drop in production in the 1950s, several small mountain cheese dairies joined together to form a cooperative in 1960. This started the revival of Laguiole, which earned AOC certification in 1961 and AOP in 2008.
This cheese has a pervasive bouquet that releases an initial milky scent and its thick rind ranges from orangey-white to amber brown depending on the age. Its smooth, firm, yellow body is creamy to taste, with a distinctive flavour that comes from unpasteurized whole cow's milk. Taken from the French Simmental (80% of the herd) or Aubrac breeds, the latter graze on the varied, fragrant vegetation of the geographic production area, extending over the entire Aubrac plateau and its foothills (60 districts straddling the Aveyron, Cantal and Lozere departments).
Production and consumption
The producers have perpetuated the traditional methods of the old cheese makers who used to make this cheese in the summer pastures, in shepherds' huts known as "burons" (small stone buildings with slate roofs). Rennet is added at between 30°C and 35°C, and the milk is first transformed into curds. After being beaten and strained, the cheese is pressed and left to mature for 12 to 24 hours, then ground, salted in blocks and finally placed in moulds.
After a second gradual pressing phase lasting 2 days, the wheels (40 cm high and wide cylinders, average weight 45 to 48 kg) are left in cellars for 4 to 12 months, depending on the desired taste, and rubbed and turned every week. 701 tons were produced in 2010, compared to 740 tons in 2011. This cheese is delicious at every stage of maturity and it can be served as an appetizer, after a meal, in soufflés, pies, etc. In 'fresh tome' form it is the main ingredient of dishes like aligot and truffade. (sources: soCNIEL, Coopérative Jeune Montagne)
At Rungis Market
"Laguiole is a cheese that has trouble becoming more known and that's a pity because it deserves to be better known," explains Mr André Bruel, General Manager of Bruel et Fils. "In the last few years the specifications have been tightened up, particularly as regards the cattle breeds; this has produced an improvement in terms of the quality and taste. This is a niche product where my sales to dairy-cheesemongers in stores and on markets are steady, with 13 tons in 2010."
Séverine Littière
