Munster cheese

History

This cheese was first made in the Admodiation, a treeless mountaintop region of the Vosges known as Chaumes or Les grandes Chaumes. After grazing their cattle there from May to September, herdsmen called marcaires returned to the valleys and paid fees and tithes to the summer pastures’ owners. Under feudalism, those owners—religious houses like the Benedictines of Munster or the canons of Murbach, and political lords such as the duke of Lorraine or the count of Salm—controlled all land, livestock, and grazing rights, while the herders were serfs. The mountain people settled their debts with cheese and butter. By the 1600s, this practice survived in only two places: Gérardmer in Lorraine and Munster in Alsace, giving the cheese its two names, gérômé and Munster.

[[Protected designation of origin|PDO]] in the European Union

Munster cheese carries a protected status in the European Union under the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC) system, which sets strict rules for its production. The milk must come from a specific region: most of the Vosges near the Alsace mountains, the French departments of Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin, a handful of communes in Haute-Saône, the Belfort Territory, and certain cantons in Moselle and Meurthe-et-Moselle. Only unpasteurized cow's milk from this zone is used.

The cheese is shaped into flat cylinders, with small Munster gérômé measuring 7 to 12 centimeters across and the larger version, usually just called Munster, ranging from 13 to 19 centimeters. The rind gets regular washings during aging in damp cellars—five weeks for the small 300-gram wheels and two to three months for the big ones around 1,500 grams. Brine washes encourage bacteria that create the cheese's distinctive flavor and color. Quality checks cover storage, packaging, and labeling.

The final product is round, with 45% fat in dry matter, a diameter of 12 to 20 centimeters, and a thickness of 3 to 5 centimeters. It is typically sold unwrapped on a straw bed, though export versions may come in clear plastic or cellophane. The ideal cheese has a slick, shiny brick-red or orange rind that looks moist, a semi-soft interior, a very strong and penetrating smell, and an intense taste. Common defects include a crumbly, under-ripened body, a cracked rind, too much salt, or being past its prime.

Munster gérômé is at its peak in summer and autumn, when the milk comes from cows grazing on the high pastures, or haute chaumes, that have been cut for hay. While some connoisseurs argue the best examples come from the haute vallée de Munster itself, the cheese is also produced in Lapoutroie, Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, Villé, and other villages in the western Vosges and Lorraine, with local preferences varying widely.

Genericization of the term

Production of Munster cheese has grown outside the historic PDO region, leading to genericization of the term outside the European Union. The cheese is also known as creamy muenster in the United States. The US Food and Drug Administration has established standards of identity for muenster cheese, defining its common name and basic nature. The US Code of Federal Regulations Title 21 establishes the production process for muenster cheese, and this standard applies to any muenster cheese imported from non-United States countries.