Neufchâtel

What is Neufchâtel Cheese?

Neufchâtel comes from the Neufchâtel-en-Bray region of Normandy. Its production is believed to date back as far as the 6th century AD, in the Kingdom of the Franks, and the cheese is known to have been made between 1050 and 1543. Stories from the Hundred Years' War say young girls offered heart-shaped cheeses to English soldiers during the end-of-year festivals to show their affection.

During the 17th century it was sent to Paris and Rouen, and exported to Great Britain. In 1880 a farmer named Isidore Lefebvre built a dairy at Nesle-Hodeng, where he moulded and ripened curds made by farmers in the surrounding area. Harrods was among his distributors.

A quality label was granted from 1949 to 1953. In 1957 the agricultural assembly of the Neufchâtel district created a federation to protect the quality of the cheese and demand an appellation d'origine contrôlée, which became law on 3 May 1969 and was modified on 29 December 1986. The 2006 review applied higher scrutiny, requiring that 60 percent of a producer's cows be of the Normande breed. Production fell after World War II; in 1993 there were 31 farms and one factory producing 45 percent of all Neufchâtel.

The cheese is soft and slightly crumbly, ripened by mold, with a dry, white, edible bloomy rind. It resembles Camembert and Brie, but the taste is saltier and sharper, and the texture is grainy rather than smooth like other soft white-rinded cheeses. Maturing typically takes 8 to 10 weeks, and pieces weigh around 100 to 600 g (3.5 to 21.2 oz).

Six shapes are recognized: the carré, briquette and bondon at 100 g each, the cœur at 200 g, the double bonde at 400 g, and the grand cœur at 600 g. Hearts are the usual form on sale, though logs and boxes are made too.

The American cheese of the same name is something else. William Lawrence, a dairyman in Chester, New York, added cream to a traditional Neufchâtel recipe in 1872 and made the first American cream cheese. American Neufchâtel is softer than cream cheese, with roughly a third less fat and more moisture, and sells as a reduced-fat substitute.