Pont-l'Évêque

Appearance & taste

Pont-l’Évêque is square or rectangular, with sharp edges and pointed corners. It comes in four formats: the large one with sides of 19 to 21 cm and 1,200 to 1,600 g, the usual one with 10.5 to 11.5 cm and 300 to 400 g, the rectangular half with 150 to 200 g and the small one with 8.5 to 9.5 cm and 180 to 250 g. The net weight is stated on each package.

The rind is brushed or washed and whitish to reddish. The paste is soft, neither sticky nor runny, ivory to straw yellow and even, with a few holes. The cheese contains at least 45 % fat in dry matter. The specification describes the taste as mild, with vegetal, milky, creamy or slightly smoky notes.

Production

At least half of a farm’s dairy cows belong to the Normande breed. The cows spend at least six months a year on pasture. Each farm has at least 0.33 ha of grassland per cow, of which at least 0.25 ha is pasture that can be reached from the milking parlour, and twice as much meadow as maize, which is fed as silage. At least 80 % of the basic feed grows on the farm’s land in the area; supplementary feed is limited to 1,800 kg per cow per year.

The dairy works with coagulation vats of limited size and only with animal rennet; the curd is cut very finely to medium finely. Ripening is comparatively short. Milk production, cheesemaking and ripening take place in the defined area.

Origin & history

The area has a mild, oceanic climate with more than 700 mm of precipitation, spread evenly over the year. Hilly grassland with hedges, many streams and wetlands shapes the landscape, and meadows still make up more than half of the agricultural land. The Normande cattle breed comes from this area.

According to the specification, the cheese has been known since at least 1622: in that year the Norman poet Hélie le Cordier dedicated a poem in 16 cantos to Pont-l’Évêque. It says that everyone loves it, because it is made so skilfully that, young or old, it is nothing but cream. From the beginning of the 18th century it was given its square shape by the use of wooden moulds, to set it apart from other cheeses.