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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Switzerland, the Bernese Jura and canton of Jura

Fromages du Jura / Jurabergkäse (Chaux-d'Abel, Grand Chaux-d'Abel, Moron, Fornet)Fromages du Jura

Fromages du Jura are semi-hard, smear-rind cheeses of raw cow milk from the Jura mountains, named after their villages and related to Tête de Moine. At La Chaux-d'Abel the curd is cut to maize-kernel size, cooked to 45–49 °C, pressed, brined 12 hours and ripened on spruce boards, brushed with brine, for about two and a half months. Made in 7 steps over 2.5 months. The longest step, brush with brine on spruce boards, takes at least 2.5 months (Verein Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz (Patrim…) and runs at 13–14 °C (Verein Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz (Patrim…). The dairy's own lactic starter cultures and Smear flora on the rind, built up by brushing with brine do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 2.5 monthsReported[patrimoine-ch]Brush with brine on spruce boards
Temperature13–14 °CReported[patrimoine-ch]Brush with brine on spruce boards

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedVillage dairy practice with no fixed batch size; the inventory gives the method, not amounts. Wheels weigh 5–9 kg.
Raw cow milk · At La Chaux-d'Abel the evening milk is skimmed; at Fornet-Dessous whole milk is used[patrimoine-ch]
The dairy's own starter cultures[patrimoine-ch]
Animal rennet[patrimoine-ch]
Salt · As brine, also brushed on the rind[patrimoine-ch]
Starter: the dairy's own cultures (culture d'exploitation), added as the milk warms past 15 °C

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.5 months

Start
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10–32 °C

What changes: Starting material: raw skimmed evening milk and morning milk, warming in the vat

Step 1 of 7
Warm skimmed evening milk with morning milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
10–32 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
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

These are village-dairy cheeses of the Jura, cooked to about 45–52 °C, lower than Gruyère's 54–59 °C, and brushed with brine into a smear rind. They come from the same tradition as Tête de Moine but are sold as cutting cheeses, named after the villages that make them.

Size
5–9 kg, 7–12 cm high, 24–38 cm across; Moron about 4 kg; Fornet 7–9 kg
Fat
About 50–51% fat in dry matter (Moron, Fornet, petit Chaux-d'Abel)

Related ferments

Variants

  • Petit Chaux-d'AbelAbout 7 kg; curd cut to maize-kernel size, brined 12 hours
  • Grand Chaux-d'AbelGruyère-like; curd cut to wheat-grain size, brined 48 hours
  • Moron (organic)About 4 kg, 24 cm across; whole milk, cooked just over 50 °C; aged about a year it is sold as "Notre Vieux Bio"
  • Fornet7–9 kg, 27 cm across; cooked to 50–52 °C, ready after 3.5–4 months

Safety

These are raw-milk cheeses. ANSES names Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and Shiga-toxin-producing E. coli as the risks of raw-milk cheeses and advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity not to eat them, except cooked pressed cheeses.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and Shiga-toxin-producing E. coli (raw-milk risks named by ANSES).

History and sources

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

The Premonstratensian abbey of Bellelay was founded in 1136, and its cheese is recorded from the 14th century; a 1471 rule capped traders' margins on Bellelay cheese. Anabaptists who settled in the Jura took over the cheese tradition. Village dairies took it up in the late 19th century, and legend dates the petit Chaux-d'Abel to a hard winter around 1890.

  1. [patrimoine-ch] Verein Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz (Patrimoine culinaire suisse), national inventory entry 'Fromages du Jura (Jurabergkäse)', no. 466archive
  2. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov