Beaufort is named after a small rural town in the Savoie province in the French Alps. Each wheel of Beaufort weighs over 40kg and takes all the milk produced by a herd of 45 cows in a day to make one wheel (12 litres of milk equals roughly 1kg of Beaufort). The cows are a special breed of mountain cows called Tarines. Beaufort d’été applies to the cheeses made from milk collected from June to October. At this time the cows graze freely on mountain pastures full of grass and Alpine flowers. Therefore, the cheese will be a pale yellow colour and have sweeter more floral flavours. It has a lingering palate that melts in the mouth and a very balanced mouthfeel with slight acidity, nuttiness and saltiness towards the end. Beaufort is easily recognised by its concave heel (the side of the cheese arcs inwards) which might have helped donkeys, on which back the cheese was strapped, to bring the fresh wheels from high alpine pastures back to the  villages in the olden days.   

Country of Origin: France