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Beaufort d'alpage d'été AOP Le Chat-Bo - 1

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Beaufort is a protected designation of origin for a French cheese produced in Savoie in a production area that includes the Beaufortain valley from which it takes its name.

Beaufort is a raw cow's milk cheese with a pressed cooked paste. It is moulded in the shape of a wheel with a slightly concave heel, and used to be an important production, but it has paid a heavy price due to the rural exodus and its high production cost.

It has had an AOC since 1968. Today it is a key product in Savoyard cuisine; from Savoyard fondue to crozet gratin, Beaufort is present on many tables in regional tourist locations

At this time, the mountain abbeys began a colossal task: clearing the mountain pastures and creating huge grazing areas for transhumance.

The cows' milk produced a cheese called vachelin. Already, the use of large, pressed cheeses was established. From that time on, cheese was the linchpin of the local economy based on agropastoralism.

From the 17th century onwards, the Beaufortain region produced Gruyère-type cheeses under the name of Grovire. Its quality created a reputation outside its native mountains and during the French Revolution, the committee of public salvation brought in 10,000 tons to feed Parisa The origin of the concave shape of the cheese wheel is thought to come from two possible reasons. This shape prevents the cheese from collapsing during the maturing process and it makes it easier to tie the cheeses with a rope on the back of a mule during the descent from the mountain pasture.

The producers have a small herd capable of producing one or two wheels of cheese per milking. The smallest breeders group together to obtain the minimum quantities required to set up a cheese-making workshop on the mountain pastures.

The cowherd climbs successively to several chalets of increasing altitude with his herd, while the rest of the family harvests the forage in the valley. The milk is processed on site. A cooperative ripening company created in 1939 opened four cellars. This structure allowed the cheese, which had previously been sold at a low price when it came down from the mountain pastures, to be better valued.

In the 1960s, milk was paid at the same price as that of the large farms on the plains; with the increase in the cost of labour and the rural exodus, production fell to 500 tonnes. A few producers then looked for a way to produce a high quality cheese, the sale price of which could pay the producers adequately, despite the extra costs linked to the constraints of the high mountains.

The cooperative approach was favoured to ensure the production, storage and distribution of the cheese.

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Data sheet

LAIT: lait de vache au lait cru
TEXTURE: Médium
ALLERGENE: Lait
MATIERE GRASSE: 32 %
PROVENANCE: Savoie
SAISON: Mai à octobre
VIN CONSEILLE: Mondeuse rouge
INTENSITE: Doux
APPELLATION: Appellation d'Origine Controlée depuis 1968

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