Beaufort — Le Prince des Gruyères

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Beaufort (AOC 1968) is the greatest of the French alpine hard cheeses — a massive wheel (40-70kg, 35-75cm diameter) of raw cow's milk cheese that has been produced in the high valleys of the Savoie (Beaufortain, Tarentaise, and Maurienne) since at least the Roman era, and that Brillat-Savarin called 'le prince des gruyères.' Beaufort belongs to the Gruyère family (along with Swiss Gruyère, Comté, and Emmental) but is distinguished by its concave sides (the talons, shaped by the beechwood cercle that encircles the cheese during pressing), its smooth, brushed rind with no eyes (unlike Emmental or Swiss Gruyère), and its dense, supple, ivory-to-straw-colored paste with a complex flavor profile: butter, hazelnut, dried fruit, and a distinct floral quality that reflects the alpine pastures. Three grades: Beaufort (winter milk, November-May, when cows eat hay), Beaufort d'été (summer milk, June-October, from cows on alpine pasture), and Beaufort Chalet d'Alpage (the apex — made in a single mountain chalet from a single herd's milk during summer alpage, at 1500m+ altitude). Beaufort Chalet d'Alpage is among France's most sought-after cheeses: the alpine wildflower diet produces milk of extraordinary aromatic complexity, and the cheese is made in copper cauldrons (chaudrons) using traditional methods. The production: 500 liters of milk make one wheel. Milk is heated to 53-54°C with thermophilic cultures, rennet-set, the curd is cut to grain-sized pieces, cooked to 53°C (a cooked-pressed cheese, like Comté), pressed in the cercle for 20 hours, salted in brine, then aged in cool cellars (10-12°C) for 5-12 months, with regular turning and brushing. In the kitchen: Beaufort is the definitive fondue cheese (fondue savoyarde traditionally uses Beaufort, Comté, and Emmental in equal parts), the gratin cheese (gratin de crozets au Beaufort is the Savoyard classic), and a magnificent eating cheese — served in thick slices at room temperature, where its butterscotch-and-hazelnut character emerges fully.

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