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Brittany
Gwell
"To make Gwell, you need Gwell: a fermented milk passed down from farm to farm, like a sourdough starter."
Dairy product or egg from Brittany.
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AI-generated illustration
Brittany
"To make Gwell, you need Gwell: a fermented milk passed down from farm to farm, like a sourdough starter."
Dairy product or egg from Brittany.
AI-generated illustration
Gwell is a 'gros lait' (laezh teo in Breton), a traditional dairy speciality at the crossroads between lait ribot and yoghurt. It is said to originate from Douarnenez, in Finistère, but this fermented milk was once made throughout Bretagne, where products based on curdled or fermented milk were widely consumed. Prized above all in Finistère, it was eaten in homes as well as in crêperies.
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Its history is inseparable from that of the Bretonne Pie Noir, a small, hardy cow with rich milk. The breed's numbers collapsed with the industrialisation of agriculture, from around 700,000 head in 1900 to some 1,600 in 2010; a rescue plan revived it, and today it is one of Slow Food's 'Sentinels'. In the 1970s and 1980s, a small group of breeders preserved the breed, and with it gros lait. A farming couple, the Cochys, then rescued the recipe from oblivion and renamed it Gwell in the 1980s.
'Gwell' means 'better' in Breton, and its homophone 'goell' refers to the ferment, the starter: the name expresses both the quality and the craft. The trademark was registered in 1993 with the INPI by the Union bretonne pie noir. In 2018, Gwell was opened up to other Breton breeds — Froment du Léon, Armoricaine and Nantaise — whereas historically it was made only with milk from the Pie Noir. In 2019, breeders came together in the Association des Paysans Producteurs de Gwell to obtain a PDO.
Appearance
a firm, creamy fermented milk with a slightly stringy texture.
Taste
mild, followed by a pleasant tangy sensation and an impression of freshness.
Texture
firm and creamy, a little stringy.
the milk ferments for about four to five hours.
the Gwell is then chilled, and sold in pots.
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Gwell is eaten like a yoghurt, plain or with sugar, honey, jam or cereal. It is also used in cooking, in both sweet and savoury recipes, as a sauce or a dip; the association suggests, for example, roasted aubergine with Gwell, or Gwell with forest honey, toasted buckwheat and apple. As a farmhouse product, it also serves as a starter to make cream, butter or cheese. It is found mainly through short supply chains: on the farm, at markets, in organic shops, grocery stores and at cheesemongers, in Bretagne and in a few Parisian shops.
the historic recipe, made with milk from the emblematic breed.
Froment du Léon, Armoricaine or Nantaise, permitted since 2018.
Gwell does not hold any official quality mark to date: 'Gwell' is a trademark registered in 1993, and the Association des Paysans Producteurs de Gwell, founded in 2019, is preparing an application for a PDO (AOP). If successful, this would be the first Breton dairy PDO and the first French PDO for a fermented milk.
No producer is listed for this product yet.