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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Auvergne, France

Cantal PDOCantal

Cow milk is renneted at 30–34 °C, cut to wheat-to-maize-sized grains and pressed into a block called the tome. The tome rests for at least 10 hours, is milled and salted, then moulded and pressed a second time. The wheels ripen at least 30 days at 6–12 °C and 95 % humidity. Made in 7 steps over 31 days. The longest step, ripen, takes at least 30 days (INAO 2018) and runs at 6–12 °C (INAO 2018). Lactococcus lactis and Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. cremoris does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 30 daysSet[cantal-cdc-2018]Ripen
Temperature6–12 °CSet[cantal-cdc-2018]Ripen
AciditypH 5–5.4Set[cantal-cdc-2018]Let the tome mature

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe rules fix the steps, times and temperatures but no amounts. A full-size Cantal weighs 35–45 kg; a Petit Cantal 8–10 kg.
Cow milk · Renneted within 48 hours of the oldest milking (24 hours on farms)[cantal-cdc-2018]
Rennet · The only coagulant allowed[cantal-cdc-2018]
Cultures of bacteria, yeasts and moulds · Allowed when shown to be safe[cantal-cdc-2018]
Dry salt · Mixed into the milled tome[cantal-cdc-2018]
Calcium chloride[cantal-cdc-2018]
Starter: mesophilic lactic cultures; rind starters in some dairies

Total time across the recorded steps: 31 days

Start
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30–34 °Cshapes, not to countLactococcus lactisL. mesenteroides

What changes: Rennet goes into milk at 30–34 °C and it sets to a gel

Step 1 of 7
Rennet the milk
Time
22–45 min
Set
Temperature
30–34 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus lactis
L. mesenteroides
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: curd.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
soft gel
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Cantal is pressed twice. Between the pressings the acid block (tome) is milled and salted in the mass, a step it shares with Cheddar-type cheeses and Salers, not with most French tommes.

Milk
Cow milk; fat standardised to give at least 45 % fat in dry matter
Ripening
jeune 30–60 days, entre-deux 90–210 days, vieux at least 240 days
Composition
At least 45 % fat in dry matter; at least 57 % dry matter after 30 days
Size
35–45 kg in moulds 36–42 cm across; Petit Cantal 8–10 kg

Related ferments

Variants

  • Petit Cantal8–10 kg, moulds 20–22 cm across, pressed at least 12 hours.
  • Cantal jeune, entre-deux and vieuxRipened 30–60, 90–210 and 240 or more days, with at least 57, 58 and 60 % dry matter.

Safety

Raw or heat-treated milk; the rules require at least 30 days of ripening and ban freezing the milk, curd or young cheese.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

A USDA bulletin of 1928 already describes the curd being pressed, left to ferment for 24 hours, then broken up and salted before moulding.

  1. [cantal-cdc-2018] INAO 2018, Cahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine « Cantal » / « Fourme de Cantal », amendment approved by the national committee on 21 March 2018spec
  2. [fretin2022] Frétin M. et al. 2022, Integration of multiomic data to characterize the influence of milk fat composition on Cantal-type cheese microbiota, Microorganisms 10(2):334paper
  3. [usda1928] Doane C.F., Lawson H.W., revised by Matheson K.J. 1928, Varieties of cheese, descriptions and analyses, USDA Bulletin 608archive