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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Switzerland, canton of Fribourg

Vacherin Fribourgeois AOPVacherin fribourgeois

Raw or once-thermised cow milk is seeded with the cheese's own cultures and set at 30–33 °C in a copper vat. The curd is cut, warmed only to 30–36 °C, pressed and brined, then bound with a gauze band or a spruce belt. It ripens at least nine weeks, first in a warm, damp cellar where it is rubbed with smear water, then in a cooler one. Made in 9 steps over 3.3 months. The longest step, finish in a cooler cellar, takes at least 2.1 months (Office fédéral de l'agriculture (OFAG) 2005) and runs at 10–16 °C (Office fédéral de l'agriculture (OFAG) 2005). Lactococcus lactis and Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Brevibacterium linens (selected or natural) and other smear bacteria on the rind do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 2.1 monthsSet[cdc-vacfr]Finish in a cooler cellar
Temperature10–16 °CSet[cdc-vacfr]Finish in a cooler cellar

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe specification fixes limits, not a recipe. Each wheel weighs 6–10 kg.
Cow milk · Raw, or thermised once; fat may be standardised; no silage in the cows' feed; worked within 24 h of the oldest milking[cdc-vacfr]
Vacherin Fribourgeois cultures · Only cultures specific to the cheese, listed by the producers' group; a commonly used starter holds Lactococcus lactis and Leuconostoc mesenteroides[cdc-vacfr][bettera2023]
Rennet[cdc-vacfr]
Up to 20% of the milk volumeDrinking water · Added to the vat to wash out lactose[cdc-vacfr]
Salt · Brine or surface salting[cdc-vacfr]
Gauze band or spruce belt[cdc-vacfr]
Startercultures specific to Vacherin Fribourgeois; a common one holds Lactococcus lactis and Leuconostoc mesenteroides

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.3 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countLactococcus lactisL. mesenteroidesBrevibacterium linens

What changes: Cultures made only for this cheese go into raw or lightly heated milk in a copper vat

Step 1 of 9
Seed the milk with its own cultures
Time
up to 24 h
Set
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus lactis
L. mesenteroides
Brevibacterium linens

The milk may be thermised once; nothing may be removed or added except fat standardisation.

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

Vacherin Fribourgeois is a pressed, uncooked smear cheese, warmed only to 30–36 °C, so its paste stays soft and melts in water below 48 °C. Gruyère, made in the same canton, is cooked and hard. It is unrelated to Vacherin Mont-d'Or, a soft spruce-bound cheese of the Jura.

Milk
Cow milk, raw or thermised once, from cows fed without silage
Paste
Semi-hard, pressed and uncooked; must melt in water below 48 °C
Ripening
At least 9 weeks
Size
6–10 kg; 30–40 cm across, 6–9 cm high; at least 260 g fat per kg; at most 20 g salt per kg

Related ferments

Variants

  • Vacherin Fribourgeois d'alpageMade on summer pastures; not part of the thrice-yearly tasting checks at dairies

Safety

When made from raw milk, this is an uncooked cheese, so ANSES advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity not to eat it. Thermised versions are also allowed.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and Shiga-toxin-producing E. coli when the milk is raw (risks ANSES names for raw-milk cheeses).

History and sources

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

The interprofession was founded in 1996, and the cheese was registered as an AOP on 22 December 2005; by 2025 about 109 cheesemakers, 40 of them on alpine pastures, and about 900 milk producers worked in the chain. Copper vats are required, though stainless vats in use before 22 August 1997 may stay until they are replaced.

  1. [cdc-vacfr] Office fédéral de l'agriculture (OFAG), Cahier des charges Vacherin fribourgeois (AOP), registered 22 December 2005, amended 27 May 2014, 11 July 2018, 6 June 2019 and 22 February 2023spec
  2. [ipvf2025] Interprofession du Vacherin Fribourgeois, request to the Federal Office for Agriculture to extend self-help measures for 2026–2029, 20 May 2025gov
  3. [bettera2023] Bettera L., Dreier M., Schmidt R.S. et al. 2023, Selective enrichment of the raw milk microbiota in cheese production, concept of a natural adjunct milk culture, Frontiers in Microbiology 14:1154508paper
  4. [ryser2021] Ryser L.T., Arias-Roth E., Perreten V., Irmler S., Bruggmann R. 2021, Genetic and phenotypic diversity of Morganella morganii isolated from cheese, Frontiers in Microbiology 12:738492paper
  5. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov