This cheese is unique in that it is eaten in the form of rosettes made with the "girolle".

It originates from the Bernese Jura, the French-speaking region of the canton of Bern. It comes from the Bellelay Abbey in Saicourt, in the district of Moutier.

At present, less than ten cheese dairies in the mountain region of the Franches-Montagnes, Porrentruy and Moutier districts and Courtelary produce this cheese.

The monks of the Bellelay Abbey began making this cheese over eight centuries ago.

The monks of Bellelay Abbey began to produce this cheese more than eight centuries ago and it has been awarded an AOC since January 2001. As early as 1192, written records show that the abbots' cheese had acquired such a reputation that it was used to pay the farmers' fees to the owners of the farms, to settle disputes, to be offered as a gift to the prince-bishops of Basle or as a bargaining chip.

A letter dated 16 August 1570 sent by the Abbot of Bellelay to the Prince-Bishop of Basel mentions Bellelay cheese. It is a cheese made from whole, raw cow's milk and is pressed into a semi-hard or semi-hard paste. Today it weighs an average of 850 grams, whereas at the time it could weigh up to 2.5 kg.

It is characterised by its cylindrical shape, the height of which is 70-100% of the diameter, and is best eaten with a dry white wine, after maturing for at least 2.5 months on a spruce board. In 1981, the "girolle" was invented, a device that allows the making of "Tête de Moine" rosettes by turning a scraper on a shaft planted in the centre of the cheese.

This device gave a decisive impulse to the demand and thus to the production of this cheese, which has grown from about 200 tons in 1981 to 2150 tons in 2010.