Fourme de Montbrison

Fourme de Montbrison is a cow’s milk cheese with blue-veined paste and an orange rind.
This cheese was formerly grouped with the Fourme d`Ambert registered designation of origin (AOC) established in 1972. In 2002, it was granted its own AOC. Fourme de Montbrison was also attributed a protected designation of origin (AOP) in 1996.
The various Fourme de Montbrison cheeses were traditionally made in « jasseries » (stone buildings with thatched roofs) which can still be seen today throughout the « Hautes Chaumes », the mountainous pastures of Les Monts du Forez. In the summer season, the farmers’ wives and eldest daughters would climb up from the valley into the mountains with their cow herds. The mothers and daughters would milk the cows and make Fourme cheese to be matured throughout the summer. In the autumn these cheeses would be sold on the Montbrison market.

Today, Fourme de Montbrison is manufactured at more than 1968 ft. of altitude in the designation zone made up of thirty-three municipalities of Les Monts du Forez, twenty-eight of the Loire and five of Puy de Dôme.
It takes between 5.2 and 6.6 gallons of milk to make just one fourme!

This cheese has a thin, dry, orange rind. Its paste is a creamy color with subtle blue veins.

The paste is both firm and crumbly, but creamy in the mouth. An agreeable woody aroma rises from its rind; the flavor is lightly salted with a delicious fruity, milky taste with a light touch of blue.