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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from France, Lyon

Cervelle de canutcervelle de canut

Cervelle de canut is a dressed fresh cheese, not a ripened one. The ferment is the fromage blanc, a fresh curd set by lactic bacteria with a little rennet. The firm curd is beaten with salt, pepper, a dash of vinegar, olive oil and fresh herbs, and eaten at once. Made in 4 steps over 4 h – 6.5 h. The longest step, ripen pasteurised milk with lactic cultures, takes 4–6.5 h (Cahier des charges du Label Rouge n° LA 04/18…) and runs at 20–30 °C (Cahier des charges du Label Rouge n° LA 04/18…). Lactic acid bacteria, which sour the milk; French rules require a living flora when sold as fromage frais does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step4–6.5 hSet[lr-faisselle]Ripen pasteurised milk with lactic cultures
Temperature20–30 °CSet[lr-faisselle]Ripen pasteurised milk with lactic cultures
AciditypH 5.9–6.7 → 4.2Set[lr-faisselle]Add a little rennet and let the curd set by acid
Fully documentedCheese4 h – 6.5 hnone (traditional Lyon dish)Family: Fresh lactic (acid-set) cheese familyMore fresh acid-set cheesesMore from France

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedTraditional dish with no fixed amounts; the Lyon library's answer lists the ingredients without quantities. The numbers in the curd steps come from the French Label Rouge rules for faisselle, a close fresh-curd product.
Fromage blanc · Firm rather than smooth[guichet2022]
Salt and pepper[guichet2022]
Vinegar (a dash)[guichet2022]
Olive oil (a dash)[guichet2022]
Freshly cut herbs[guichet2022]
Starter: lactic cultures in the fromage blanc

Total time across the recorded steps: 4 h – 6.5 h

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
20–30 °Cshapes, not to countLactic acid bacteria

What changes: Lactic cultures go into the milk and start to sour it

Step 1 of 4
Ripen pasteurised milk with lactic cultures
Time
4–6.5 h
Set
Temperature
20–30 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: soured milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

lactic bacteria start to turn milk sugar into lactic acid

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

Cervelle de canut is a fresh lactic cheese turned into a dish. The fermentation ends with the fromage blanc; what makes it cervelle de canut is the beating with vinegar, oil and herbs, which no plain fresh cheese gets.

Milk
Cow milk, made into fromage blanc
Ripening
None; fromage blanc is an unripened cheese by French law, and the dish is eaten fresh

Related ferments

Variants

  • ClaqueretThe older Lyon name for the same beaten, seasoned fresh cheese.

Safety

French Label Rouge rules for faisselle, a close product, keep the curd at 0–6 °C and limit E. coli to 10 per gram. Keep the dressed cheese cold and eat it fresh.

Hazards the sources name: Escherichia coli and Enterobacteriaceae, each limited to 10 per gram in Label Rouge faisselle.

History and sources

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

The dish is linked to the canuts, the silk weavers of Lyon's Croix-Rousse, who rose in revolt in 1831, 1834 and 1848. One story says the name mocks them for being too poor to buy lamb's brains. It was long called claqueret, and the present recipe is credited to chef Paul Lacombe of the restaurant Léon de Lyon in 1934.

  1. [decret2007] Décret n° 2007-628 du 27 avril 2007 relatif aux fromages et spécialités fromagères, article 2 (FAOLEX copy)spec
  2. [lr-faisselle] Cahier des charges du Label Rouge n° LA 04/18 « Faisselle », homologated by arrêté of 20 November 2018, Bulletin officiel du Ministère de l'agriculture n° 2018-48spec
  3. [guichet2022] Bibliothèque municipale de Lyon, Le Guichet du Savoir, answer on the origin of the name cervelle de canut, 21 November 2022 (citing Vérone 2020 and Coulon and Saint-Lô 2022)web