The Laguiole cheese: Introduction
The Laguiole cheese is thought to be as old as Cantal, if not older. Pliny the Elder wrote; “In Rome, the cheeses of the provinces (the Gaules) from the regions of Gabali and Gévaudan and can be found at court.”
Exclusively farm produced and protected by an Apellation d’Origine since 1976, the Laguiole cheese was traditionally made in the burons (a stone building in the mountains) at the time of transhumance (seasonal migration of livestock to summer pastures). Its name comes from the local town of Aveyron where the cheeses were sold at market.
The Laguiole cheese is cylindrical with a diameter of 40cm, a length of 35 to 40cm and a weight between 30 and 40kg.
The maturing process of the Laguiole cheese is done in a dry, humid cheese cellar where it is left for between 3 and 6 months.
It is with the milk of the Aubrac breed of cow, a rustic breed which lives on the mountains from the end of May to mid October, that the Laguiole cheese develops its wonderful pale yellow colour. |
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