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Raw materials/Variety/Race
The Vacherin Mont-d'Or AOC is a soft cheese made with thermized milk.
Method of working/Cultivation/Breeding
the milk used to make the Vacherin Mont-d'Or AOC is delivered twice a day to the cheese dairy, from September to March. Its forbidden to feed the cows with fermented fodder. The milk is thermized at the cheese dairy: thanks to this gentle heating process, harmful bacteria are destroyed but the milk conserves its quality. Once the curdled milk is pressed and moulded, the cheese is girdled by a band of pine bark and immersed into a salt bath for two to four hours. The "white" Vacherins are then stored on spruce boards and left to mature in cellars where, for at least 17 days, they are regularly upturned and brushed. At the end of this process, cheeses are put into spruce boxes which are lightly too small in order to obtain the characteristic undulations of Vacherin Mont-d'Or AOC.
Aspect and Taste
the Vacherin Mont-d'Or AOC has a round wheel shape, measures between 3 and 5 cm in height and 10 and 32 cm in diameter, and weighs between 400 gr and 3 kg. The rind is soft, supple, undulating and has red-brown colour with a sparse, pale coat. The paste is between solid and fluid, slightly runny when mature and has a yellow-ivory colour. The flavour is sweet, creamy, delicate, with a hint of the tang of pine bark.
Production Zone
The production area of the Vacherin Mont-d'Or AOC includes the Joux Valley and the bottom of the Vaud Jura, located in the western part of Switzerland, in the Vaud canton.
History
The first written document referring to the Vacherin Mont-d'Or AOC dates back to the beginning of the 19th century. It appears more precisely in the law about taxes of the 6th of June 1812. Traditionally, when the season was ending and when the milk used to produce the Gruyère was consequently about to miss, the production of smaller cheeses called "Vacherin" was launched. This tradition hasn't stopped and the Vacherin has kept on being produced on both sides of the border: on the French side with the name Mont-d'Or (AOC since 1981) and on the Swiss side with the name Vacherin Mont-d'Or AOC.
Gastronomy
The Vacherin Mont-d'Or AOC would be ideally conserved in a cellar, at a temperature between 10 and 12°C, but it can also be conserved in the least cold compartment of the refrigerator, wrapped in a plastic film or a tin foil in order to maintain its humidity. It is suggested to take it from the refrigerator at least two hours before consuming it. The Vacherin Mont-d'Or AOC is usually consumed at the end of the meal. It can be eaten warm, prepared in the oven: lined with tin foil, pricked with a fork and covered with 1dl of white wine, it is put in the oven preheated at 200°C for 25 minutes. It's delicious accompanied with potatoes or bread. It can be put in the middle of the table, and eaten with a spoon.
Marketing
The product is sold as Vacherin Mont-d'Or AOC. It is marketed whole in its pine box or in slices.
Distinctive features
The peculiar flavour of the Vacherin Mont-d'Or AOC results also from its characteristic packaging: its band of pine bark and its pine box.