Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from France, Aubrac plateau

Laguiole PDOLaguiole

Whole raw milk from Simmental and Aubrac cows is renneted at 30–35 °C, cut and pressed into a block called the tome. The tome sours for at least 12 hours, is milled to hazelnut-sized pieces, salted and pressed into large wheels for at least 40 hours. The wheels ripen at least four months in cellars at 6–12 °C. Made in 7 steps over 4.1 months. The longest step, ripen in the cellar, takes at least 4 months (Ministère de l'agriculture 2021) and runs at 6–12 °C (Ministère de l'agriculture 2021). Lactic flora of the raw whole milk, plus any added cultures of bacteria, yeasts and moulds does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 4 monthsSet[laguiole-cdc-2020]Ripen in the cellar
Temperature6–12 °CSet[laguiole-cdc-2020]Ripen in the cellar

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe rules fix the salt rate (18–24 g per kg of milled tome), the times and the temperatures, but no milk volume. A finished wheel weighs 20–50 kg and measures 30–40 cm across.
Raw whole cow milk · From French Simmental or Aubrac cows or their crosses; not standardised, no physical treatment; renneted within 48 hours of the oldest milking[laguiole-cdc-2020]
Rennet · The only coagulant allowed[laguiole-cdc-2020]
Cultures of bacteria, yeasts and moulds · Allowed when shown to be safe[laguiole-cdc-2020]
18–24 g per kg of tomeSalt · Mixed into the milled tome[laguiole-cdc-2020]
Starterraw-milk flora; cultures of bacteria, yeasts and moulds allowed

Total time across the recorded steps: 4.1 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
30–35 °Cshapes, not to countYeastsMoulds

What changes: Rennet goes into whole raw milk at 30–35 °C and it sets to a gel

Step 1 of 7
Rennet the raw milk
Time
up to 2 days
Set
Temperature
30–35 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Yeasts
Moulds
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

Like Cantal and Salers, Laguiole is pressed twice with a milled and salted tome in between. It must use whole raw milk from Simmental or Aubrac cows, ripen at least four months (Cantal needs 30 days) and reach at least 58 % dry matter.

Milk
Raw whole cow milk from French Simmental and Aubrac cows; no silage; at least 120 days of grazing a year
Ripening
At least four months
Composition
At least 45 g fat per 100 g dry matter; at least 58 g dry matter per 100 g cheese
Size
Cylinder 30–40 cm across, 20–50 kg

Related ferments

Variants

  • Laguiole fermierMade on the farm from at most two consecutive milkings, with the warm morning milk over half the volume.
  • Laguiole buronMade in a fixed dairy building on the high pastures, from one herd grazing above 1000 m between 25 May and 13 October.

Safety

Made only from raw milk. The rules require at least four months 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

The rules credit monks of the Aubrac and Bonneval abbeys with fixing the method from the 12th century, to store summer milk for winter pilgrims. Makers formed a selling union in 1897 and the AOC was granted in 1961.

  1. [laguiole-cdc-2020] Ministère de l'agriculture 2021, Cahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine protégée « Laguiole », homologated by arrêté of 31 July 2020 (JORF 11 August 2020), in force 8 March 2021 (BO-Agri notice)spec
  2. [shimano2022] Shimano S. et al. 2022, Do 'cheese factory-specific' mites (Acari, Astigmata) exist in the cheese-ripening cabinet?, Experimental and Applied Acarology 87:49–65 (abstract)paper