Tete de Moine Half Pound
Semi Hard Cheese Cow's Milk Raw Tête de Moine AOP, Fromage de Bellelay Switzerland Tête de Moine AOP Classic is a Swiss semi-hard cheese with a delicate, aromatic flavor and a soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture. It is aged on spruce boards, which helps develop its signature taste and consistency. Tête de Moine AOP, Fromage de Bellelay, is registered as a protected designation of origin (AOP). Instead of being sliced, it is traditionally pared into delicate rosettes using a special tool called a Girolle, which enhances its aroma and texture.
Tête de Moine as a proper term has been used since about 1790, but the cheese has a much longer history. The oldest description of the Bellelay cheese dates from 1628 and states that a "very fat milk of impeccable quality from the best grasses and herbs of the country is used". Beuret and Chatelain report that, in 1192, the cheese made in the abbey served as an annual fee paid in lieu of rent to the feudal tenure "Étoile". Over the centuries, mountain farmers began to make these cheeses outside the abbey. At the beginning of the 20th century the making of the cheese gradually shifted from the farms to the village dairies, and by 1950 the annual production had increased to 27,000 kg.