Tete de Moine
/Hello Fellow Cheese Lovers!
Photo: Cheeses of Switzerland
This is one cheese that I have been wanting to write about for the longest time…It is the story of a cheese that could have been found in my first cheese counter, but I only fell in love with this cheese once we started selling Girolle® units and could truly taste this cheese the way that it was meant to be enjoyed (more on that later).
If this cheese is new to you, this raw cow’s milk cheese was developed in a monastery in Switzerland in the 1100’s. These little 1.5 lb. to 2 lb. drums have a washed rind and have been lovingly aged on Spruce boards from 75 to 180 days.
You have probably guessed that I am a history buff at heart, so let’s take a look back at this cheese’s origins…
While the name "Tête de Moine" only appears in print since around 1790, as with many cheeses across Europe, this cheese had been produced much earlier than that.
The monastery of Bellelay (or Bellelay Abbey) was established in 1136 and confirmed by Pope Innocent II six years later. As early as 1192, (or a century before the beginnings of the Swiss Confederation), the monks of the monastery Bellelay were first mentioned in connection with cheese. At that time they paid the annual taxation on various properties with cheese made in their abbey.
There are several explanations of the origin of the name “Tête de Moine” (translation: Monk’s Head). The first explanation is from the 1790’s during the time of the French Revolution. It is said that the cheese was given this name as a comparison between shaving the top of the cheese and the shaving of the top of a monk's head (known as a tonsure). The second explanation is based on tales from the area which refer to the number of cheeses stored at the cloister "per tonsure", or per resident monk.
It was during this time of the French Revolution (1789-1799) that the monks were evicted from the monastery in 1797….but that did not seem to stop the production of Tête de Moine, as some of the local farms which belonged to the monastery kept the tradition going. It is most likely that this cheese had already been produced locally for nearly 500 years, so it wasn’t going away anytime soon.
A few other events happened that helped boost this little cheese’s popularity:
Photo courtesy of Girolle®
In 1856, a farmer from Bellelay, A. Hofstetter, submitted his Tête de Moine cheese to the Concours Universel Agricole de Paris (agricultural competition) and received several awards, elevating the popularity of this cheese.
In Lajoux in 1982, a Swiss inventor named Nicolas Crevoisier created the Girolle®, a tool for scraping Tête de Moine into the form of “rosettes” that resemble chanterelle mushrooms (also known as girolle in French). Shown here was his original 1982 prototype…until then, this cheese had been traditionally scraped with a knife.
On May 8th 2001, Tête de Moine became a “protected cheese” receiving its AOC (appellation d'origine contrôlée) status. In 2013, to match the system of the European Union, the appellation d'origine contrôléewas replaced by the AOP (appellation d’origine protégée) for agricultural products certification.
By 1950, there were eleven producers of Tête de Moine, today only seven remain listed on the map below. The Interprofession Tête de Moine ensures that each of these producers maintains the same high quality standards and time-tested traditions that have been handed down through the centuries.
Here are just some of the rules that make this little gem of a cheese SO unique:
Area of Origin and Production - The mountainous area of the Freiberge, Pruntrut districts and the commune of Saulcy as well as the administrative district of the Bernese Jura excluding the communes of Nods, Diesse, Lamboing, Prêles and la Neuveville.
Ingredients – Made with natural mountain raw milk (from cows fed without silage), animal rennet, starter culture and salt.
Shape, Size, and Weight – These cylindrical drums can range in 10 to 15 cm (3.93 in. to 5.90 in.) in diameter, height 70% to 100% of the diameter, and 700g. to 900g. (1.5 lbs. to 2 lbs.) in weight.
Maturity Period – Tête de Moine is one of the few cheeses that I know of that has such a wide variety of ages.
Tête de Moine AOP CLASSIC minimum age 75 days (Silver Foil)
Tête de Moine AOP RESERVE minimum age 4 months (Gold Foil)
Tête de Moine AOP BIO minimum age 75 days (Turquoise Foil)
Tête de Moine AOP EXTRA minimum age 6 months (Black Foil)
Tête de Moine AOP FERMIÈRE minimum age 4 months (Copper Foil)
Traceability – The cheeses have to bear identifying labels to ensure they can be traced back to their origin at any time and every stage of production. They must have the casein marks (seen here) stipulated by the producers’ association, with a date of manufacture and EU registration number, or other approved identification processes. The cheese dairies are under an obligation to keep a register of the source of the milk supplied to them. From manufacturing to packaging, records must be provided for the food standards authorities.
Serving and Enjoying – As I mentioned earlier, a Girolle®, or any type of “Cheese Curler” (Boska has a wide range of them suitable for any budget, you can get to their page here), as well as domes to cover your curler when it’s not in use…or even a mold for chocolate so that you can curl your own chocolate!
Another method is by using a Pirouette® which is a half wheel of Tête de Moine that comes with its own plastic scraper and dome.
The Rolls Royce of scrapers is the Rosomat…Not sure if they sell them in the U.S., but I sure would like to try one out for a “spin”.
Lastly, just for you cheesemongers out there, the Interprofession Tête de Moine has created these little domes/labels so that cheesemongers can curl their own at store level for those customers who don’t own one.
As this point, I hope that you are phoning around to your local cheese shops to see how soon you can get some!...It will be the star of your cheese board and is simply amazing on steaks as they come off the grill
Until next week,
Trevor
