Rollot

What is Rollot Cheese?

Rollot is a cheese from Picardy, named after the village of Rollot in the southeast of the Somme. The first written mention comes from the 16th century, when leases were partly paid in cheese; the departmental archives hold a lease dated 10 March 1576. Louis XIV liked it enough to order a yearly supply, grant a 600 livre pension to Monsieur de Bourges, and create the post of royal cheesemaker for Rhené Jean de Bourges.

By 1901 the area around Montdidier turned out roughly 300,000 cheeses a year. It won silver medals at Paris cheese competitions in 1866 and 1880, and placed behind Camembert and ahead of Livarot in 1907. The First World War stopped production and destroyed the town. A cheesemaker named Marie Louvin gave it a heart shape in 1920 to help the relaunch, but output kept falling toward near extinction. In 2019 six makers were left, three farmhouse and three industrial, and none of them in Rollot itself.

The milk is set with rennet right after milking, then the curd is ladled into round or heart shaped molds. Regular washing with salt water keeps the cheese supple and encourages the red ferment that colors the rind orange. After draining and salting it goes to the drying room, then to the cellar for three to six weeks.

The paste is soft under a washed rind. A wheel is 8 to 9 cm (3 to 3.5 in) across, 3 to 4 cm (1.2 to 1.6 in) thick, and weighs about 300 grams (10.5 oz). The smell is fairly strong, fresh and acidic. In the mouth it is supple and melting, lightly salty and tangy, picking up fruity and spicy aromas as it ages.

The best window for eating it runs from May to October after a month of ripening, and it can be good from March to November. Left for six weeks in skilled hands, it gets very strong. Farmhouse versions are still made at Grébault-Mesnil, Marchélepot, Grémévillers, Fruges and Étroeungt, with industrial production at Mondrepuis and Guiscard.