FORMAGGIO.IT

Il Portale del Formaggio

Fourme d'Ambert

Name of Group of Producers

Syndicat Interprofessionnel de la Fourme d'Ambert

4 place de l'Hà´tel de Ville

63600 Ambert FRANCE

Tel. +33 473820155

Fax +33 473824400

51 rue d'Anjou  75008 Paris FRANCE

Tel. +33 153898000

Fax +33 142255797

Direction gènèrale de la concurrence, de la consommation et de la rèpression des fraudes (DGCCRF)

59 Bd V. Auriol

75703 Paris Cedex 13 FRANCE

Tel. +33 144871717

Fax +33 144973037

Cow's milk cheese produced in the form of a cylinder between 17 and 21 cm in height and 12,5 to 14 cm in diameter, weighing between 1,9 and 2,5 kg. The cheese is blue-veined, unpressed, uncooked, fermented and salted, with a fat content of at least 50 % of the dry weight and at least 50 % dry matter.

There is a bloom on the dry, grey to light-grey coloured rind, where white, yellow and red mould may also be present and which may have a blue sheen. The inside of the cheese is white to cream in colour with cracks and an even distribution of blue to green veins.

"˜The geographical area for Fourme d'Ambert covers:

» the historic area of origin of the product, formed by the high stubble fields (Hautes Chaumes du Forez) at the top of the Forez mountains, within the departments of the Loire and Puy de Dà´me. This area forms a clearly marked natural unit, both from a geomorphologic and botanical point of view. The high stubble » vast bare stretches on granite bedrock » is watered and subject to a continental and oceanic influence. Different vegetation formations have been recorded there, depending on the site conditions and current and past agricultural use: grass or prairies; land dominated by blueberries, heather and broom; land featuring lady's-mantle and bog bilberries; wetlands and peat bogs. The high stubble is also home to high mountain pasture buildings at higher altitude than permanent habitats, known as "jas" or "jasseries", which testify to the pastoral activity associated with the traditional production of this cheese

Throughout the year, the dairy cows are fed exclusively on fodder from the geographical area covered by the designation. Exceptions may be made to this for periods of drought, vagaries in the weather or other exceptional circumstances.

The feed should be based on hay, grass, wilted grass or silage. When grass is available, grazing is mandatory as soon as the weather allows. During the grazing period, the cows may not be kept in stalls all the time or without a grazing area. The use of supplements and additives is limited to 1 800 kg of dry matter per dairy cow per year, on average for all the dairy cows together.

The milk may not be kept on the farm for more than 48 hours after the first milking.

Farm-produced cheese is made using unpasteurised whole milk, non-standardised in terms of fat and protein.

The milk is curdled, using rennet alone, at a temperature between 30 and 35 °C.

The different stages that follow are the cutting of the "˜coagulum or whey' into pieces around 1 to 2 centimetres thick, which gives them the appearance of "˜grains of maize' after the stage in the vat, mixing, placing in the mould, draining, post-draining salting in brine and/or dry salting.

Holes are made in the cheese as of the fourth day after renneting at a room temperature of 6 to 15 °C.

After the holes are made, the cheese is matured in a cellar or ripening room at a constant temperature of 6 to 12 °C and humidity level of between 90 to 98 % relative humidity for at least 17 days.

The cheese is then stored in a room at a temperature of between 0 and 6 °C until the 28th day following renneting.

The registered designation of origin "˜Fourme d'Ambert' may not be used for the cheese until the 28th day after renneting.