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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from France, monts du Forez

Fourme de Montbrison PDOFourme de Montbrison

Cow milk is seeded with Penicillium roqueforti and set with rennet, cut to small grains, and salted in the mass as it goes into tall moulds. The young cheeses drain on half-log gutters of spruce called chéneaux, which seed the orange rind, are pierced to let in air for the blue, and ripen at least 32 days. Made in 6 steps over 39 days – 40 days. The longest step, pierce and ripen in the cellar, takes at least 32 days (Ministère de l'agriculture 2025) and runs at 6–12 °C (Ministère de l'agriculture 2025). Penicillium roqueforti, seeded into the milk, which makes the blue marbling and Lactic cultures do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 32 daysSet[cdc-fdm2025]Pierce and ripen in the cellar
Temperature6–12 °CSet[cdc-fdm2025]Pierce and ripen in the cellar
AciditypH 6.5–6.6Reported[pci-fdm]Warm and pre-ripen the milk
Fully documentedCheese39 days – 40 daysPDO (EU); its own appellation since 2002Family: Blue-veined cheese family (Roquefort as template)More blue cheesesMore from France

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification fixes limits, not a recipe. Each cheese is a cylinder 17–21 cm high and 11.5–14.5 cm across, weighing 2.1–2.7 kg.
Cow milk · Processed within 24 h of reaching the dairy; farms use raw whole milk from at most two milkings[cdc-fdm2025]
Rennet · The only coagulant allowed[cdc-fdm2025]
Penicillium roqueforti[cdc-fdm2025]
Bacteria, yeast and mould cultures, calcium chloride · Allowed[cdc-fdm2025]
Salt · Mixed into the crumbled curd at moulding, plus a light outer salting[cdc-fdm2025]
Starter: lactic cultures with Penicillium roqueforti and rennet

Total time across the recorded steps: 39 days – 40 days

Start
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32 °CpH 6.5–6.6

What changes: Starting material: cow milk warmed in the vat and left to sour slightly

Step 1 of 6
Warm and pre-ripen the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
32 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
pH 6.5–6.6
Reported
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Penicillium roqueforti
Brevibacterium linens

Farms must rennet at most 16 h after the oldest milking.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
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

Unlike most blues, the curd is cut very small and salted in the mass rather than on the outside, which leaves few holes, a mild blue and less salt. Draining on spruce chéneaux gives the orange rind that sets it apart from its neighbour, Fourme d'Ambert.

Milk
Cow milk; raw and whole on farms
Salting
Salted in the mass at moulding, plus a light outer salting
Ripening
At least 32 days from renneting
Size
17–21 cm high, 11.5–14.5 cm across, 2.1–2.7 kg

Related ferments

Variants

  • Farm Fourme de MontbrisonRaw whole milk from at most two milkings, renneted within 16 h of the oldest.

Safety

Farm cheeses are made from raw milk. Soft blue-veined cheeses can carry Listeria. ANSES advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity not to eat raw-milk cheeses other than hard cooked ones, and the NHS advises pregnant women to eat soft blue cheese only cooked until steaming hot.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes (risk named for raw-milk and soft blue-veined cheeses).

History and sources

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

The specification traces the cheese to the early Middle Ages in the high Forez, where it was made in summer in mountain huts called jasseries, by women, while the men worked the fields below. Hollowed softwood trunks served as drainage gutters. Cheeses were kept until the herds came down and sold at markets such as Montbrison. It received its own appellation in 2002.

  1. [cdc-fdm2025] Ministère de l'agriculture, Cahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine « Fourme de Montbrison », homologated by arrêté of 5 February 2025 (JORF 9 February 2025), Bulletin officiel n°2025-07spec
  2. [pci-fdm] Ministère de la Culture, Fiche d'inventaire du patrimoine culturel immatériel « La fabrication de la fourme de Montbrison » (one dairy described)gov
  3. [giuffrida2020] Giuffrida D. et al. 2020, Carotenoids from the ripening bacterium Brevibacterium linens impart color to the rind of the French cheese, Fourme de Montbrison (PDO), Natural Product Research 34:10–15 (abstract)paper
  4. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov
  5. [nhs-preg] NHS, Foods to avoid in pregnancy (cheese section)gov