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Auvergne
Chambérat
In the Bocage bourbonnais, an almost vanished raw-milk cheese, narrowly saved by the stubborn determination of a cheesemaking couple.
Washed-rind cheese from Auvergne.
Discover
AI-generated illustration
Auvergne
In the Bocage bourbonnais, an almost vanished raw-milk cheese, narrowly saved by the stubborn determination of a cheesemaking couple.
Washed-rind cheese from Auvergne.
AI-generated illustration
The origins of chambérat date back to 1742, in the small village of Chambérat on the edges of the Bocage bourbonnais. Its birth was down to a peasant ruse: under the sharecropping system, farmers rented their land from an owner with whom they had to share the proceeds of their farm. To withhold a portion of the milk from this division, they would wean their calves early in order to milk the mothers on the sly — which meant processing the milk on the spot. It was this urgency that forged the distinctive technique of chambérat: immediate renneting after milking, rapid draining before pressing, then maturation in cellars. Production subsequently spread to the neighbouring villages of Archignat and Treignat.
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Chambérat came close to disappearing in the 1960s, before being revived by the determination of a dairy manager and a few local farmers. The decisive turning point came in 2006: when the last dairy still making it closed its doors, Jérôme and Véronique Gendreau, then employees of the business, chose to set up their own company rather than let the cheese disappear. Today, their Fromagerie de Pierrefite produces around 14 tonnes a year, using the traditional method. Producers in the sector also attempted to secure Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée status for chambérat, submitting an application to the INAO on 13 June 1997 — an initiative that has never resulted in official recognition.
Every year, the village of Chambérat celebrates its cheese during a fair held on the first Monday after 15 August, alongside melons, donkeys and horses.
Appearance
Cylindrical wheel with a thin, smooth and even rind of a pinkish-orange colour, obtained through regular washings with salted water to which red ferments are added during maturation; dense and supple ivory-coloured paste, which may feature numerous openings.
Aroma
Pronounced cellar aromas, which become more assertive with maturation.
Taste
Notes of hazelnut and damp straw, all the more marked the longer it is matured.
Texture
Supple paste.
Chambérat comes in two formats: the farmhouse 'Gros Chambérat', a wheel measuring around 18 cm in diameter by 5 cm in height and weighing 1.4 kg, and the dairy-made 'Petit Chambérat', more modest at 14 cm in diameter, 3 cm in height and 600 g.
cow's milk, raw or thermised, is renneted straight after milking, a direct legacy of the original peasant technique.
the curd is drained before any pressing, without prolonged acidification.
the moulded cheeses are moved to damp cellars for maturation.
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Like other soft, washed-rind cheeses (Munster, Époisses…), chambérat pairs well with a lively, aromatic Alsace white wine, such as a Gewurztraminer, whose residual sugar and floral, exotic notes stand up to its cellar and hazelnut aromas.
An application for AOC status was lodged with the INAO by Chambérat producers on 13 June 1997, but to this day this initiative has never led to official recognition: chambérat does not carry any official quality mark (PDO (AOP), AOC, PGI (IGP), TSG (STG), Label Rouge or organic).
Family-run
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