Fourme d'Ambert

Appearance & taste

Fourme d’Ambert has the shape of a tall cylinder: 17 to 21 cm high, 12.5 to 14 cm in diameter and weighing 1.9 to 2.5 kg. The dry rind carries a light to deep grey down of mould and may show white, yellow and red mould spots as well as a bluish sheen.

The paste is white to cream-coloured, has holes and is evenly marbled with blue-green mould. It is unpressed, uncooked, fermented and salted. The fat content is 50 % in dry matter.

The label gives the name in lettering at least two thirds the size of the largest lettering on the label. Apart from individual factory or trade marks, no other description may be attached directly to the name.

Production

All year round the dairy cows are fed exclusively on forage from the area; there are exceptions only in drought, sudden bad weather and other exceptional circumstances. The main component is grass, freshly grazed, wilted or ensiled. As long as fresh grass is growing and the weather allows, the cows must graze outdoors. Supplementary feed is limited to an average of 1,800 kg of dry matter per cow per year. On the farm, the milk may be stored for at most 48 hours after the oldest milking. On farms, the cheese is made from raw whole milk without adjusting the protein and fat.

The milk is curdled at 30 to 35 °C with rennet only. The curd is cut in the vat into cubes of about 1 to 2 cm, known as the “maize grain” size, then stirred, filled into the mould and drained. It is salted in brine and/or with dry salt. From the fourth day after renneting the cheeses are pierced. They then ripen for at least 17 days in a cellar or ripening room at 6 to 12 °C and 90 to 98 % humidity and are then stored at 0 to 6 °C until the 28th day after renneting. Only from that day on may the cheese bear the name. Milk production, cheesemaking, ripening and storage up to the 28th day take place in the area.

Origin & history

The historical area of origin is the Hautes-Chaumes du Forez, wide, bare granite uplands in the Monts du Forez on the border between the departments of Loire and Puy-de-Dôme; near Pierre-sur-Haute the mountains reach 1,640 m. Meadows, heaths with bilberry, heather and juniper, and damp, peaty areas are found there. There is also a surrounding zone of crystalline or volcanic plateaus with deep valleys, where cattle farming predominates.

According to the specification, the making of “Fourme” can be traced with certainty back to the High Middle Ages. As evidence from the 8th or 9th century it cites one of seven stones above the portal of an old knights’ chapel in Chaulme near Saint-Anthème, which shows the typical cheese shape. The word “Fourme” comes from “forme”, the vessel for the curd. Until the Second World War the cheese was made only on farms, in the “Jasseries”, mountain huts above the zone inhabited all year round. At that time it was called “Fourme d’Ambert” or “Fourme de Montbrison” after the two large markets on either side of the mountains.

At the beginning of the 20th century dairies were set up, mainly on the eastern slope of the Monts du Forez; in 1950 there were about a dozen. Producers also settled outside the traditional area, in the west of Puy-de-Dôme, in Cantal and in the Dore valley. Over time the method changed: the one cheese became two varieties. The “Montbrison” type is drained beforehand, broken up and salted in the vat, while the “Ambert” type is drained more moderately and salted in brine or with dry salt.