Vacherin Mont-d'Or

Vacherin Mont-d'Or is made only in the colder half of the year, from roughly mid-August production for mid-September sale through to spring, because it was originally the cheese made when the herds came down and milk yields were too small for a large wheel of Gruyere. Each cheese is wrapped in a band of spruce bark cut in the Jura forests and packed in a spruce box; the band holds the very soft paste together and gives it a resinous note that is the defining flavour. It is eaten with a spoon at room temperature, or baked in its box with garlic and white wine until it is liquid. Swiss Vacherin Mont-d'Or AOP and the French Mont d'Or are separate protected products from the same border region.

What you actually see

• A spruce band round the cheese - bark cut in the Jura, holding the paste.
• A winter-only product - made when yields were too small for big wheels.
• Eaten with a spoon - or baked in the box with wine and garlic.
• Two protected versions - the Swiss AOP and the French Mont d'Or.

When to go

Mid-September to spring. A meal.

Honest expectations

It genuinely is not available in summer - out-of-season substitutes are something else. It is a raw-milk soft cheese, so the usual advice for pregnancy applies. The smell is strong. The box is part of the product and should not be discarded before baking.

Nearby

The Vallee de Joux and Vallorbe are the production area.