🧀 Langres

Langres is a soft French cheese with a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), registered in the EU in 1996. According to the single document it is an interior-ripened cheese made exclusively from renneted cow's milk.

Milk. The milk must come from the defined area and must be neither concentrated nor reconstituted; it may not be kept below zero. It is matured and coagulates slowly, over two and a half to five and a half hours, giving a lactic curd. At least 80% of the dry matter of the herd's ration comes from the area; the cows are on pasture at least six months a year, with at least 20 ares of grazing per cow, and concentrates are limited to 7 kg per cow per day on average over a year.

The cheese. The cheese contains at least 50% fat in dry matter, and dry matter above 42%. During drainage it is turned over no more than twice, which lets a depression, the fontaine or cuvette, form on the top (more than 5 mm deep). It is a slightly truncated cylinder in three sizes: large (mould 16 to 20 cm, 800 to 1,300 g), medium (mould 9 to 10 cm, 280 to 350 g) and small (mould 7 to 8 cm, 150 to 250 g). The cheese is white at first and turns creamy as it matures. The rind is smooth, lightly wrinkled and smeared, golden yellow to reddish-brown after maturation; the specification mentions repeated washing with salt water. Maturation in a humid atmosphere lasts 15 to 21 days, depending on size.

Where it is made. The milk is produced and the cheese made and matured in the pastures of Bassigny and the Langres plateau: four municipalities of Cote-d'Or, the districts of Chaumont and Langres in Haute-Marne, and the canton of Neufchateau in the Vosges.

Labelling. The label shows the name of the designation with the words Appellation d'origine in characters at least two-thirds the size of the largest on the label, and the EU PDO logo.

Link with the area. According to the specification, writings attest that moulded, drained cheeses were already made around Langres in the Middle Ages; in the 19th century they were made on farms and the young white cheese was matured by merchants in the town of Langres. Production on farms declined after 1914-1918, and artisanal makers began again in 1950.