Port-Salut
Created | Updated May 14, 2006
Port-Salut is a semi soft mature cheese, famous for its thin edible orange wax. This cheese has a mild taste but sometimes a strong smell. The cheese was created by Trappist monks in the abbey of Notre Dame Du Port du Salut in Entrammes. The monks had left France during the 1789 revolution to escape persecution, they learnt cheese making as means of survival and in the year 1815 returned and created the Société Anonyme des Fermiers Réunis (SAFR) which later became a registered trademark which is still printed on distributed Port Salut cheese today.
In 1873 the abbey made an agreement with a Parisian cheese seller to grant right distribution. The cheese’s popularity rose and in 1959 the rights were sold to a major creamery. There is now produced in factories wrapped with a plastic coating. Handmade Port Salut (Entrammes) is produced in monasteries over the French country side and has a different taste to the factory made version.
In 1873 the abbey made an agreement with a Parisian cheese seller to grant right distribution. The cheese’s popularity rose and in 1959 the rights were sold to a major creamery. There is now produced in factories wrapped with a plastic coating. Handmade Port Salut (Entrammes) is produced in monasteries over the French country side and has a different taste to the factory made version.
