Soumaintrain

Appearance & taste

Soumaintrain is a flat cylinder 90 to 130 mm in diameter with a height of 25 to 35 % of the diameter; it weighs 180 to 600 g. The rind is ivory to ochre and slightly moist, may be furrowed and bear marks of the grid; a light coating of mould is allowed. Because the mould is washed off regularly, according to the specification the rind is lighter than that of related cheeses. The paste is soft, smooth, slightly grainy and ivory-coloured; after 21 days the breakdown of protein must have begun under the rind, but it does not reach the core. The cheese contains at least 40 % dry matter and at least 48 % fat in dry matter.

The smell is animal or vegetal. The taste is milky and slightly sour, with a “noble” bitter note and no unpleasant aftertaste; thanks to the lactic curdling, the taste of milk remains distinct even after ripening. With ripening, animal and, depending on the season, vegetal aromas develop, such as mushrooms, humus, hay or straw, which linger long in the mouth.

Production

At least 75 % of the cows’ feed comes from the area, and supplementary feed makes up less than 30 % of the ration on average over the year. Each cow has at least 12 ares of pasture available, and it stays outdoors for at least five months from turnout. According to the specification, the grass contributes to the typical vegetal aromas.

Whole cow’s milk is processed, collected no later than 48 hours after the first milking; fat or protein may be neither added nor removed, and the milk may not be concentrated. It is curdled mainly by lactic acid. The curd drains by itself, the cheese dries off and is dry-salted. During ripening the rind is washed at least four times; this keeps the mould in check and limits the breakdown of protein on the surface, while the cheese slowly ripens from the outside in. Milk production, cheesemaking and ripening take place in the area. The label states the name and the producer.

Origin & history

The area is grassland on the plain around damp valleys: Armance, Armançon, Yonne, Serein, the Seine in the damp Champagne, and Brenne, Oze and Ozerain. The clayey, impermeable soils mostly carry natural meadows that cannot be worked by machine, and the dense network of watercourses makes the land prone to flooding from autumn to spring. The climate is cool, with an annual average just over 10 °C and 700 to 800 mm of rain without a marked summer drought.

According to the specification, knowledge of such cheeses goes back to the Middle Ages: the Cistercians of Pontigny Abbey, founded in 1117, were paid their rent in ripened cheese. A description from 1889 portrays the making: the curd was ladled into bottomless moulds on willow racks, turned, salted and washed daily with fresh water until it was a fine yellow on the outside; the same text calls Soumaintrain the “best cheese in the country”. Washing came about because mould formed in the damp air when the cheese ripened outdoors. Better transport routes encouraged livestock farming and trade in the 19th century; in 1911 a text on the cheese and the Armance valley appeared. Since 1984 there has been a tour of the producers in the area every October.