Époisses

Appearance & taste

Époisses is cylindrical and is made in two sizes: 9.5 to 11.5 cm in diameter and 250 to 350 g, or 16.5 to 19 cm in diameter and 700 to 1,100 g. The rind is smooth or slightly furrowed, shiny and ivory-orange to brick-red. The paste is light beige, yielding and creamy, soft and slightly salty. Depending on ripeness, the protein inside is partly broken down.

The cheese contains at least 50 % fat in dry matter and at least 40 % dry matter. The brick-red colour of the rind is natural: it comes from the pigments of the bacteria on the surface; colourings are prohibited.

Production

The milk comes only from cows of the Brune, Montbéliarde and Simmental française breeds. At least 80 % of their daily ration comes from the area. From the time they are put out to pasture until at least 15 June they mainly eat fresh meadow grass, on pasture or in the barn; outside this period at least 30 % of the basic ration consists of dry fodder and hay.

Apart from milk, only rennet, harmless bacterial, yeast and mould cultures and salt are permitted. The whole milk coagulates mainly through lactic acid. The curd is coarsely broken up without letting it fall apart, filled into moulds and drains by itself; it is salted with dry salt. The cheese then ripens for at least four weeks and is washed again and again with water to which Marc de Bourgogne has been added. Milk production, cheesemaking and ripening take place in the defined area.

Origin & history

Production began in the Pays d’Auxois and spread to similar neighbouring areas: marly soils and gentle slopes with natural meadows that are well suited to keeping cattle. According to the specification, the grasses there give the milk a typical mineral content that supports the making of this cheese. Many tasks are still done by hand.

According to the specification, Cistercian monks in Époisses first made the cheese at the beginning of the 16th century, and the farmers of the village refined its production. Madame de Sévigné praised it, Brillat-Savarin called it the “king of cheeses” in 1825, and since 1840 it has been made on a larger scale. The production method is regarded as part of the cultural and economic heritage of the region; it sustains small farms and traditional cattle breeds.