La fabrication du fromage a certainement ses origines à la préhistoire. Plusieurs étapes sont nécessaires à la fabrication du fromage.

The first stage of the cheese making process is the curdling of the milk.

The second stage, the moulding of the cheese, involves the seperating of the curds from the water, giving the cheese its shape.

The third stage is the most important. The quality of the cheese depends on the quality of the draining process. It is therefore an important and delicate stage.

After many hours of draining, the cheese is removed from the mould and then left on a warm, ventilated drying rack, where it is then salted.

The matruing process is the essential stage whcih allows the cheese to be conserved for longer

The cheese dairy is, above all, the place where the milk is collected with a view to transform it into cheese. The word in French ‘fromagerie’ is less specific and can mean the place where the cheese is made and also the specialised cheese shop.

Le fromage est du lait coagulé, plus ou moins égoutté selon différentes techniques. Nous dinstinguons les fromages à coagulation lactique lente et les fromages à coagulation accélérée par usage de présure.

Le matériel de fromagerie a constamment évolué à travers les époques. Les outils traditionnels ont également un intérêt technologique, en dehors de leur valeur historique et affective.

La recette de base pour faire du fromage est relativement simple.

Comment faire du fromage ? On peut facilement, chez soi, et sans un grand outillage, faire du fromage.

Fresh cheese, made with cow's milk, or sometimes goat or ewe's milk is neither fermented nor matured.

Soft, bloomy rind cheeses constitute a large family of cheeses with diverse methods of fabrication. The name comes from the characteristics of the pate of the cheeses and the development of the surface mould after it has been matured.

Washed rind cheeses are characterised by their rind which is a pale yellow, orange, reddish colour and their pungent smell.

Blue cheeses are characterised by their development of Penicillium requeforti or glaucum. These cheeses can be made with cow’s, ewe’s or goat’s milk.

The particularity of this family of cheese is the diversity of the cheeses, but they all have one point in common which is the pressing of the curds whilst being drained.

Cooked, pressed cheeses are large and have a higher level of dry matter (60 to 63%) than their uncooked relatives; they are drained intensely with the help of mechanical acceleration. 

Goat’s cheese was introduced in Europe by the Arabic invasions. After the battle of Poitiers of 532AD, the Saracens settled in Poitou and raised goats. 

An AOC cheese (‘Appellations d’origine contrôlée’ meaning ‘protected designation of origin’) is a product which is identified by its authenticity and its geographocal origin. An AOC cheese guarentees quality, certain characteristics, an area of origin, a savoir-faire method of production, precendence and the notoriety of the name which is so old that it can not be patented.

The Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) is a European sign of identification, created in 1992. It protects the name of an PDO cheese of which the production, transformation and elaboration must have taken place in a determined geographical area with an accepted and certified savoir-faire method.

The Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) defends is a way of determining the origin of a product, and defends its geographical name.

Farm made cheese is a designation which describes the cheeses made directly in the farm. Farm made cheese is made by the farmer, with the milk produced on their own exploitation.