Emmental de Savoie IGP

Emmental de Savoie is the giant of French cheeses. A huge wheel that can top 70 kg, a firm yellow paste pierced with large regular holes, a mild, fruity taste. Milder than its Savoie cousins, it is a cooking cheese as much as a board cheese. It carries an IGP, alongside Tomme and Raclette de Savoie.

The largest cheese in France

Emmental de Savoie stands out first by its size: it is the largest cheese produced in France. That size is not a detail, it follows from how it is made. It is a pressed, cooked paste, like beaufort, but aged differently. The large wheel allows a slow, even maturation, and that is what gives the cheese its hold and its mildness. The IGP guarantees a making from the region’s milk, to distinguish it from bland industrial emmentals.

Where the holes come from

The famous holes, or “eyes,” are no accident. They form during ageing, when the wheels move from a temperate cellar to a warm cellar. The heat wakes up bacteria that produce gas, which forms bubbles in the maturing paste. Those bubbles become the holes. Ageing lasts at least 75 days, alternating cellars, and it is this passage through the warm cellar that gives the cheese its visual signature. To place it among the others, see the Cheeses of Savoie pillar.

A cooking cheese

Emmental de Savoie melts very well without turning stringy, which makes it a top cooking cheese. You grate it over gratins, you put it in croziflettes, and it often goes into Savoyard fondue to bring creaminess, alongside beaufort and abondance. On a board, its mildness makes it a good cheese for children and for those who do not like strong tastes.

Where to find it

You find Emmental de Savoie in every dairy and cheese shop in the region. Ask for Emmental de Savoie IGP, not just any emmental: that is the guarantee of a cheese made in the region, from local milk. The cooperatives sell it direct, for example around Annecy and in the cheese valleys of the Aravis.