🧀 Neufchâtel

Neufchâtel is a French soft cheese with a protected designation of origin (PDO), made exclusively from renneted cow's milk in the Pays de Bray in Normandy (Seine-Maritime and one commune of Oise).

How it is made. The curd is drained and pressed before moulding, then dry-salted. According to the specification, the milk comes from herds that are mostly of the Normande breed (at least 60 % from 1 June 2017); the cows graze for at least six months a year, when grazing provides more than half of the basic ration. Ripening lasts at least 10 days from moulding.

Look, shapes and weight. The paste is soft, lactic, slightly salty, without holes, supple, velvety and smooth, not sticky, runny or grainy. The surface mould is white and the rind has no holes. The cheese comes as a cylindrical log, square, briquette, double log, heart or big heart. After the minimum ripening a log, square or briquette weighs at least 100 g, a heart or double log 200 g, a big heart 600 g. It contains at least 45 g of fat per 100 g of completely dried cheese and at least 40 g of dry matter per 100 g of cheese.

Label. Each cheese has an individual label with the name in characters at least two thirds the size of the largest ones, the words Appellation d'Origine Protégée and the EU PDO logo.

History. The specification states that the origins of the cheese go back to the 10th century, that cheeses of the Pays de Bray are mentioned in a charter of 1037, and that Neufchâtel is named for the first time in the accounts of the abbey of Saint-Amand in Rouen in 1543–1544.