🧀 Maroilles

Maroilles, also registered as Marolles, is a French cheese with a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), made exclusively from cow's milk. It has a soft paste and a washed rind, and is square, sometimes slightly tapered, with marks of the ripening screens on the sides. The name has been protected in the EU since 21 June 1996.

Milk and making. The dairy cows graze at least 170 days a year, with at least 30 ares of grass per cow, of which at least 15 are grazed. During the grazing period grass makes up on average at least 65% of the dry matter of the coarse fodder, concentrates are limited to 1,800 kg of dry matter per cow per year, and at least 80% of the coarse fodder comes from the area. The milk may be used raw, thermised or pasteurised, and colourings are forbidden. Milk production, cheesemaking and ripening all take place in Thiérache, in communes of the Nord and Aisne departments. In the ripening cellars (humidity at least 90%, 9 to 16 °C) the cheeses are brushed or washed with a salt solution, sometimes seeded with surface cultures, mainly Brevibacterium linens.

Formats and ripening. The standard Maroilles is made in a mould 12.5 to 13 cm square and ripened at least 35 days from renneting. Three smaller formats exist: Sorbais (12 to 12.5 cm, at least 28 days), Mignon (11 to 11.5 cm, at least 28 days) and Quart (8 to 8.5 cm, at least 21 days). The cheese contains at least 45 g of fat per 100 g of cheese after total desiccation and at least 50 g of dry matter per 100 g of cheese.

Look and taste. The rind is a homogeneous red-orange; the paste is white to cream, soft to the touch, with small openings and a firmer core that softens with longer ripening. The specification describes a strong smell of cellar, damp brick and undergrowth, slightly ammoniac, and a slightly salty, milky taste with acidity, a slight bitterness and notes of curd, hazelnut and alliums; longer ripening makes the taste stronger.

Maroilles or Marolles? They are one PDO cheese, registered under both spellings. What marks it out is a washed rind and a square shape in four formats: the standard cheese in a 12.5 to 13 cm mould, ripened at least 35 days from renneting, and the smaller Sorbais, Mignon and Quart. The cows graze at least 170 days a year, the cellars are damp and the rind is brushed or washed, which gives a strong smell of cellar and damp brick and a salty, milky taste with notes of hazelnut that grows stronger with age.

Look for the name “Maroilles” or “Marolles”, in characters at least two thirds the size of the largest on the label, with the EU PDO symbol (protected designation of origin). The cheese is square, sometimes slightly tapered, with marks of the ripening screens on the sides, a homogeneous red-orange rind and soft white to cream paste. The format may be standard, Sorbais, Mignon or Quart. It is sold at cheese counters, delicatessens and cheesemongers.

Link with the area. According to the specification, the origin of Maroilles is linked to the Abbey of Saint-Humbert of Maroilles, founded in the seventh century. On the label the name must appear in characters at least two thirds the size of the largest ones, together with the EU PDO symbol.