Mimolette (Boule de Lille)
Mimolette, or boule de Lille, is a pasteurized cow's milk cheese from around Lille in northern France. It is known for its orange paste, its cantaloupe-like sphere, and a grey rind pitted by the cheese mites that live on it.
Key Facts
| Country of Origin | France |
| Specific Origin | Lille, northern France |
| Milk Type | Cow's milk |
| Milk Treatment | Pasteurized |
| Rind | Natural, pitted by cheese mites |
| Texture | Semi-hard |
| Flavor | Parmesan-like when young, hazelnut when extra-old |
| Forms | Sphere, about 2 kg (4.5 lb) |
| Alternative Spellings | mimolette |
| Also Known As | boule de Lille, vieux Hollande |
What is Mimolette (Boule de Lille) Cheese?
Mimolette comes from around the city of Lille in northern France. Louis XIV wanted a French cheese to replace Dutch Edam, which was popular at the time and at odds with Jean-Baptiste Colbert's mercantilist policies, so cheesemakers built one on the Edam model. To set it apart they colored it, first with carrot juice and later with annatto. The cheese went by vieux Hollande or boule de Lille; the name Mimolette only turned up in the 20th century, from mi-mou, meaning semi-soft.
Farmers in the original region drifted away from it until three industrial producers brought it back elsewhere in France: Lactalis at Bouvron, the Isigny-Sainte-Mere cooperative in Manche, and Savencia in Somme. Production is now pasteurized. Some artisanal farm versions reappeared in the 2010s.
A wheel is a sphere of about 2 kg, roughly 4.5 pounds, and looks a good deal like a cantaloupe. The paste is bright orange from annatto, which in these small amounts colors without adding flavor or aroma. Cheese mites are put on the surface of aged wheels, and they leave the grey, pocked rind that Mimolette is known for while building up flavor underneath.
Young Mimolette tastes something like Parmesan. Many people prefer it extra-vieille, when it turns hard enough to be a chore to chew and the paste picks up a hazelnut character. Charles de Gaulle was a fan.
The mites caused trouble abroad. In 2013 the FDA held back about a ton of Mimolette and paused further imports to the United States, saying the cheese exceeded the standard of six mites per cubic inch and that eating the mites in quantity could set off an allergic reaction. The restriction came off in 2014.
How Does Mimolette (Boule de Lille) Cheese Compare?
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