🧀 Neufchâtel

Neufchâtel is a French cow's milk cheese with a Protected Designation of Origin, made in the Pays de Bray, mainly in Normandy's Seine-Maritime department. Its curd is drained and pressed before moulding, which gives a soft, slightly salty paste under a white bloomy rind, and its most emblematic shape is the heart. ³⁵⁶

The land. The area is a list of 134 communes: 133 in Seine-Maritime and one in Oise, Quincampoix-Fleuzy. ⁵ The Pays de Bray is an eroded chalk dome with hills, dense streams and heavy, damp clay that suits grass better than the plough; the rules say its name comes from a Celtic word for mud. ⁵ The climate is cool, with about 800 mm of rain a year and 67 days of frost. This matters because grass and long winter hay stocks are the basis of the milk. ⁵

Cows and feed. Since 1 June 2017, at least 60% of each producer's herd must be Normande cows. ⁵ The rule exists because maize silage and Holstein cows had spread, and producers wanted to restore the link with the local breed, whose milk is rich in fat and protein. ³⁵ Cows graze for at least six months a year, and pasture must then provide more than half of the basic ration. Each lactating cow needs at least 0.25 ha of pasture, and 80% of the fodder must come from the farm. ⁵ These limits have been relaxed temporarily after droughts in 2015 and 2022 and after the Lubrizol plant fire in Rouen in 2019. ⁸⁹¹²

How it is made. Farmhouse makers must use raw milk within 12 hours of milking; dairies may pasteurise or thermise it. ⁵ Rennet is added at 22–34 °C, and the milk then coagulates slowly for 18–36 hours, down to pH 4.2–4.6. The whey drains in bags, first without pressure and then under light pressing. The resulting paste is kneaded, moulded and dry-salted. ⁵ This draining and pressing before moulding gives Neufchâtel its particular place among bloomy rind cheeses. ⁵

Ripening and taste. Cheeses ripen for at least 10 days from moulding at 10–14 °C and 90–100% humidity, and Penicillium candidum may be added for the white rind. ⁵ The paste must be supple and smooth, without holes, and neither sticky nor runny. ³⁵ Young cheese smells of fresh milk and tastes of butter and cream with a light saltiness; longer ripening makes it creamier and more intense. ⁶⁷ It is a short-ripened cheese, but the rules note that it can be eaten locally after more than three months. ⁵

Six shapes. After minimum ripening, the log, square and briquette weigh at least 100 g, the heart and double log 200 g, and the big heart 600 g. ³ The heart mould measures 8–9 cm from centre to point and 9.5–10.5 cm across; the big heart 10–11 cm and 13.5–14.5 cm. ⁵ Every shape must contain at least 45 g of fat per 100 g of dry matter and 40 g of dry matter per 100 g of cheese. ⁵ Each cheese has its own label, with the name, the words Appellation d'Origine Protégée and the EU PDO symbol. ⁵

History. The rules date the origins to the 10th century and cite a charter of 1037 for Pays de Bray cheeses, while the first mention of Neufchâtel by name is in the accounts of Saint-Amand abbey in Rouen in 1543–1544. ⁵ The story of Norman girls giving heart-shaped cheeses to English soldiers during the Hundred Years' War is presented as a legend. ⁶⁷ Trade grew with the road to Paris and the railway; an 1856 estimate put Paris consumption near three million cheeses a year. ⁵ After the Second World War, similar cheeses made elsewhere and farmers selling milk to dairies brought decline. ⁵

Protection and scale. Producers founded a syndicate in 1957 to fight misuse of the name, including a 1965 American request to approve a cheese called Neufchâtel. ⁵ A decree of 3 May 1969 granted the designation of origin, and EU protection followed on 21 June 1996. ¹²⁵ The amended rules were registered by a regulation published on 25 March 2014. ³⁴ The ministry reports 42 milk producers, 16 farmhouse producers and 21 workshops, with 1,576 tonnes sold in 2020. ⁶⁷

Neufchâtel or cream cheese? The names are cousins, the cheeses are not. French Neufchâtel is a PDO cheese from the Pays de Bray, made from cow's milk, with a soft, slightly salty paste under a white bloomy rind; its curd is drained and pressed before moulding, and it ripens at least 10 days. American neufchatel is a soft cream cheese. Among bloomy rind cheeses, that draining and pressing before moulding is what gives Neufchâtel its particular place among them.

Look for the name Neufchâtel with the words Appellation d'Origine Protégée and the EU PDO symbol; each cheese has its own label. You will meet six shapes, from the log, square and briquette to the heart, double log and big heart, under a white bloomy rind. For raw milk, look for “fermier” or “lait cru”. It is sold at a supermarket cheese counter, in a delicatessen or at a specialist cheese shop, and it is not the soft cream cheese sold as neufchatel in the United States.

Why it matters to you. Look for "fermier" or "lait cru" on the label if you want the raw milk version, and avoid raw milk cheese if you are pregnant, immunocompromised or buying for a young child, especially under 5. ⁵⁶ Choose a younger cheese for milky freshness and a longer-ripened one for depth. ⁶ Do not confuse it with American neufchatel, which is a soft cream cheese. ¹¹ One retailer's 200 g raw milk heart lists 292 kcal, 24 g fat, 19 g protein and 1.6 g salt per 100 g, stored at +2 to +6 °C; these figures describe that product only. ¹⁰