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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from France, Auvergne, the Cantal mountains

Salers PDOSalers

Salers is made only on the farm, from 15 April to 15 November while the cows graze, with raw milk poured straight into a wooden vat called a gerle whose biofilm seeds it. The curd is pressed into a block (the tome), left to sour, then milled, salted and pressed into a 30–50 kg drum. It ripens at least three months in cool, very damp cellars. Made in 9 steps over 3.1 months. The longest step, ripen in a damp cellar, takes at least 3 months (Ministère de l'agriculture 2021) and runs at 6–14 °C (Ministère de l'agriculture 2021). Salt is at least 2 % (Ministère de l'agriculture 2021). Lactic acid bacteria in the gerle biofilm (Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides, Lactococcus lactis, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus hilgardii); lactobacilli at 4.50–6.01 log CFU/cm² and Lactic acid bacteria in the cheese, among 381 isolates do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 3 monthsSet[cdc-sale2021]Ripen in a damp cellar
Temperature6–14 °CSet[cdc-sale2021]Ripen in a damp cellar
Saltat least 2 %Set[cdc-sale2021]Salt and rest

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe specification fixes limits, not a recipe. One cheese weighs 30–50 kg; the gerle's size varies by farm.
Raw whole cow milk · From the farm's own grazing herd, used straight after milking; fat and protein not adjusted[cdc-sale2021]
Rennet · Dose set so that the milk sets in 12–16 min[cdc-sale2021]
Cultures of bacteria, yeasts and moulds (optional) · Only cultures shown to be safe; the gerle seeds the milk itself[cdc-sale2021][didienne2012]
At least 2% of the tome weightDry salt · Mixed by hand into the milled curd[cdc-sale2021]
Starterthe gerle's wooden-vat biofilm; some farms also add sour whey or a starter culture

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.1 months

Start
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What changes: Raw milk goes straight into the wooden gerle, whose biofilm seeds it with microbes

Step 1 of 9
Milk straight into the gerle
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
L. pseudomesenteroides
Lactococcus lactis
Lactobacillus casei
Lactobacillus plantarum
Lactic acid bacteria

Made only on the farm, from 15 April to 15 November, when the cows are at grass.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

in under a minute the gerle's biofilm seeds the milk with lactic bacteria and yeasts

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

Salers is made like Cantal, by pressing, souring, milling and salting a curd block before the final pressing. Unlike Cantal it is made only on the farm, only while the cows graze, and always in a wooden gerle that seeds the milk with its own microbes.

Milk
Raw whole milk from one farm's grazing herd, made on that farm between 15 April and 15 November
Ripening
At least 3 months from moulding
Size
Drum of 30–50 kg with slightly bulging ends; at least 44 g fat per 100 g dry matter and 58 g dry matter per 100 g

Related ferments

Safety

This is a raw-milk uncooked cheese. ANSES advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity not to eat raw-milk cheeses other than cooked pressed ones such as Comté. Cooking the cheese removes the risk.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and Shiga-toxin-producing E. coli (risks ANSES names for raw-milk cheeses); none of these grew on gerles in a 10-farm study.

History and sources

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

The specification says cheeses of the area were known in Roman times. For centuries Salers was made in summer in burons, stone huts that were home, dairy and cellar, and sold in autumn to valley merchants who ripened it further. It became an appellation by decree of 21 December 1961.

  1. [cdc-sale2021] Ministère de l'agriculture, Cahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine « Salers », homologated by arrêté of 7 July 2021, as approved by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1 (BO-Agri notice)spec
  2. [didienne2012] Didienne R., Defargues C., Callon C., Meylheuc T., Hulin S., Montel M.C. 2012, Characteristics of microbial biofilm on wooden vats ('gerles') in PDO Salers cheese, International Journal of Food Microbiology 156(2):91–101 (abstract)paper
  3. [callon2004] Callon C., Millet L., Montel M.C. 2004, Diversity of lactic acid bacteria isolated from AOC Salers cheese, Journal of Dairy Research 71(2):231–244 (abstract)paper
  4. [duthoit2005] Duthoit F., Callon C., Tessier L., Montel M.C. 2005, Relationships between sensorial characteristics and microbial dynamics in Registered Designation of Origin Salers cheese, International Journal of Food Microbiology 103(3):259–270 (abstract)paper
  5. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov