This typical farm cheese, mainly made by women up to today, was referred to as «rye cheese» up to the 17th century because it was ripened on straw.
The Maréchal de la Ferté-Sennecterre introduced it to Louis XIV’s Versailles.
Main PDO cheese of France -because of the quantity produced (6,300 tonnes) and its numerous producers (over 250) -it has also been produced by 5 dairies since 1964 (8,000 tonnes) with milk produced by 700 farmers. Around twenty ripeners complete the production cycle.
The production area is restricted to 70 towns located in the volcanic region of the Monts Dores. Cows exclusively graze on meadow grass from the area.
Did you know that...
To make one wheel of Saint-Nectaire you need:
- 13 to 14 litres of milk
- raw milk, mandatory for the farm variety, which is immediately processed after each milking
- 4 to 8 weeks are necessary to ripen the cheese. It is regularly washed with salt water.
There are two varieties of Saint-Nectaire:
- fermier (farm): green oval label
- laitier (dairy): green square label