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Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Born in the silence of the cellars of an abbey in the Ternois, Belval still bears on its beer-brushed rind the patient touch of the nuns who created it.
Uncooked pressed cheese from Nord-Pas-de-Calais.
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In 1893, Abbé Trannoy, the parish priest of Troisvaux, convinced several Trappistine nuns from the abbaye de Laval, in Mayenne, to found an abbey in a former manorial residence in the heart of the Ternois, in Artois. Faithful to the Rule of Saint Benedict, the Cistercian sisters then converted the estate's barn into a cheese dairy to ensure the self-sufficiency of their community.
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To make a success of this venture, the Trappistines reached out to their Trappist brothers in Flandre and Hainaut, renowned for their dairy expertise, and matured the curd in accordance with a monastic tradition inherited from them. The cheeses, washed, brushed and turned with great care, rested on racks for weeks in the silence of the cellars — sold first at local markets, then in the cheese shops of the Paris region.
The sisters left Belval for good in 2012 to join another community in Champagne-Ardenne. An association organised as a social and solidarity economy enterprise then took over the buildings and continued cheese production: output, of around 40 tonnes a year, now accounts for more than half of the site's revenue, alongside a shop, a hotel and guided tours.
Appearance
a smooth, thin rind — straw-yellow in its plain state, brown once washed with beer —, and an ivory to beige paste, firm and dense, dotted with small holes.
Aroma
a distinct aroma of yeast on the rind.
Taste
a pronounced flavour, with a slight hint of bitterness reminiscent of abbey beer.
Texture
firm and springy.
Alongside the plain cheese, several variations are crafted by the abbey dairy: Belval à la bière, Belval aux fleurs, BelvaLin aux graines de lin, and spiced versions.
from raw cow's milk, the curd is cut and then mechanically pressed without heating: an uncooked pressed cheese.
the cheese is moulded into a disc 20 to 25 cm in diameter, sold as a 2 kg or 400 g piece.
it then rests on racks for several weeks in the silence of the cellars, turned with care.
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Belval is enjoyed plain, at the end of a meal, or on a cheese board alongside other cheeses from Nord-Pas-de-Calais. Its beer-washed rind naturally calls for an amber or brown abbey beer to accompany it, prolonging its hint of bitterness on the palate. The flower or linseed variants lend themselves to a milder tasting, as an aperitif.
This cheese holds no official quality mark — neither PDO (AOP), PGI (IGP), Label Rouge, TSG (STG), nor organic certification: it is a monastic speciality that has remained artisanal, sold through short supply chains from the abbey that matures it.
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