🧀 Salers

Salers is a French firm, pressed, uncooked cheese with a protected designation of origin (PDO), made from raw whole cow's milk, not standardised in fat or protein, in the Mounts of Cantal in Auvergne.

According to the single document, it is a cylinder bulging slightly at the sides, weighing 30 to 50 kg after a minimum maturing of three months counted from forming. The paste is ivory to straw yellow with a compact texture; the rind is dry, mottled, golden to ochre, and may be flecked with red, orange and yellow mould. The aromas are lactic (butter, fermented cream), plant (alliums, grass, hay) and fruity (citrus, walnut, hazelnut). Fat is at least 44 g per 100 g of dry cheese and dry matter at least 58 g per 100 g of matured cheese.

It is made on the farm from the milk of a single herd, between 15 April and 15 November while the cows are out on grass; the milk is curdled in wooden vats called gerles. The basic ration is pasture from the area, with supplements limited to 25 % of dry matter. Cheeses are identified by an embossed stamp and may bear 'Ferme de…'; those from herds made up entirely of Salers cows carry 'tradition salers' and images of Salers cows' heads.