Salers

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Salers is a semi-hard pressed cheese from the Cantal department in France's Massif Central, made only between 15 April and 15 November. Wheels weigh about 40 kg (88 lb) and age in caves for three to forty-five months. It has held AOC status since 1961.

Pymouss, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Key Facts

Country of Origin	France
Specific Origin	Salers, Massif Central
Protection	PDO (1996), AOC (1961)
Milk Type	Cow's milk
Milk Treatment	Unpasteurized
Rind	Thick gray
Texture	Firm
Flavor	Strong-tasting
Colors	Yellow interior
Forms	Wheel, 18 inches diameter, 88 pounds weight
Age	Minimum of three months, up to forty-five months
Also Known As	Salèrn (Auvergnat)

What is Salers Cheese?

Salers takes its name from the town of Salers, in the department of Cantal, among the volcanic mountains of the Massif Central in Auvergne. Cheese has been made here for an estimated 2,000 years. It gained wider attention when the Maréchal de Senneterre served it at the table of Louis XIV, the same man who brought Saint-Nectaire and Cantal to court. The cheese has held the Appellation d'origine contrôlée since 1961.

It is a pressed, uncooked cheese, produced only between 15 April and 15 November. When the milk comes from Salers cows, the cheese is labelled Tradition Salers. The stricter Salers de Buron Traditional is made in stone huts known as burons during the summer months, using milk from Salers cows alone and a traditional wooden vat called a gerle.

Wheels are circular and weigh around 40 kilograms (88 lb). They ripen in caves held at 6 to 12 °C (43 to 54 °F) for at least three months, and sometimes as long as forty-five.

Salers is close kin to Cantal, which comes from the same cows during the rest of the year, when they are fed on hay. Farmhouse production has thinned out, with fewer than 100 producers left. Output reached 1,112 tonnes in 1998, up 15.1% from 1996, all of it made on local farms from unpasteurized milk.