Mimolette cheese has French and Dutch origins, with a dark orange appearance and a taste similar to Edam. It can be aged for 6 months to 2 years, developing a hard crust due to cheese mites. It is sold at around 18 months and can weigh up to 4kg.
Mimolette cheese is of both French and Dutch origin and is similar in some respects to Edam cheese in taste. In appearance it is quite different: it has a dark orange flesh carrot, depending on the degree of ripening of the cheese. Mimolette comes from the French word mimou which means partially soft, but aged cheese is actually quite hard, similar in texture to Edam. It is also called Boule de Lille, after a cellar in Lille where the cheese may have been first made in France.
The French didn’t begin making Mimolette cheese until the 1600s. A restriction on imports from Holland was the probable reason the French began making Mimolette cheese themselves, rather than relying on Dutch imports. You will find Mimolette cheese made in Holland and the one made today in France, especially in the Brittany region.
This cow’s milk cheese can be aged for six months to two years and stored in a humid environment. It is turned once a week and begins to develop a hard crater like surface, comparable to the surface of the moon. The craters are actually the result of cheese mites that start eating into the cheese as it ages. These get brushed off regularly, but they come back and create the hard crust.
Some people compare Mimolette cheese to a melon in appearance, especially cantaloupe. The almost spherical cheese has that bumpy surface, but when you cut into it you’re surprised by its bright orange interior. Depending on your preferences, there are different ways to eat this cheese.
When very young, around six months old, Mimolette may be called demi-vielle or “middle-aged”. The cheese is the brightest orange at this point, quite hard, and some don’t like the taste and describe it as oily. At about one year of age, Mimolette cheese is simply called vielle or “old”, and at 18 months it is tres vielle or “very old”. Cheese makers differ on when to serve the cheese, but the maturation at about 18 months evokes the strong flavor of the nuts for which the cheese is prized. In general, cheese is sold at around 18 months and is usually discarded if it passes the two-year point.
You may find sliced Mimolette cheese, especially at stores that specialize in selling imported cheeses. A whole cheese is quite large and might be interesting to serve at large gatherings. The cheese can weigh around 4kg and therefore should feed a large amount of people.
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