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Picardy
A fresh, white cylinder rolled in its thin paper — the petit-suisse has never seen Switzerland: it was born on a farm in the Oise, before a Parisian merchant turned it into a dairy empire.
Fresh cheese from Picardy.
The story begins with Sophie-Julie Bourdet, a farmwife from the Pays de Bray. Having returned to live with her parents after her divorce in 1836, the family — then settled near Ferrières-en-Bray, in Seine-Maritime — later moved to Villers-sur-Auchy, in the Oise, on rue Barrat. It was there, in the cellar of the family farm that served as a workshop, that Sophie-Julie developed the recipe with the help of a cowherd from the canton of Vaud, in Switzerland: he suggested adding crème fraîche just before curdling the milk, to produce a creamier texture. An older version of the tale places the scene in Normandie rather than Picardie and names the farmwife 'Madame Héroult' rather than Sophie-Julie Bourdet — a sign that the story was passed down orally before being committed to paper, with competing accounts.
Around 1850, having become Héroux following a second marriage, Sophie-Julie sold her fresh cheeses on local markets; they soon caught the attention of a clerk from the Halles de Paris, Charles Gervais. In 1852, he went into partnership with the farmwife and launched his own production, transporting it by carriage to Paris, to rue du Pont-Neuf — only the curd travelled, with the petits-suisses being moulded and distributed on site. Transport became simpler in 1872 with the freight line between Normandie and the capital. The cheeses were then packed into locally made poplar wood boxes, before Charles Gervais's son, Jules-Charles, introduced the absorbent paper that still wraps them today. The Charles Gervais company was formally incorporated by notarial deed in 1878, with production sites divided between Ferrières-en-Bray and Clermont, in the Oise.
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In 1967, the Gervais company merged with Danone, now the world's leading dairy group; production of petit-suisse continues in Le Molay-Littry, in Calvados. According to Guillaume Bernardin, a municipal councillor in Villers-sur-Auchy who conducted the genealogical investigation with his father using the departmental archives, the brand now prefers to highlight a more commercially appealing connection to Normandie, to the detriment of the product's roots in Picardie. One hundred and seventy-five years after Charles Gervais, a cheesemaker from the same village, Jean-Marie Beaudoin, revived the farmhouse recipe: he leaves the milk to curdle for twenty-four hours, then drains it for thirty-six hours before moulding it the traditional way.
Appearance
A small, individually moulded fresh cheese wrapped in thin absorbent paper — the 'papier Joseph' introduced by the maison Gervais.
Texture
Creamy and smooth, with the crème fraîche added before curdling giving it a richer curd than standard fromage blanc.
the curd is piped into a mould that divides it into several petits-suisses.
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Petit-suisse remains above all a childhood dessert: this was still how the regional press described it in 2026, one hundred and seventy-five years after its creation in the Oise. Plain or sweetened when served, it is enjoyed chilled, eaten with a spoon, just as it is.
Petit-suisse has become a generic name, without PDO (AOP), PGI (IGP) or Label Rouge: the recipe was born on a farm in the Oise before being industrialised under the Gervais brand, now owned by Danone. Its origins in Picardie remain largely overshadowed by the brand's marketing, which highlights its roots in Normandie.
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Fromagerie Jean-Marie Beaudoin is an organic cheese dairy located in Orsimont (Villers-sur-Auchy, Oise), about ten kilometres from Gournay-en-Bray. It presents itself as a cheese producer since 1993, championing natural and sustainable farming, cows fed on grass from its own pastures, and short supply chains with local producers. All its cheeses are certified 100% organic.
It notably produces Tomme au foin, matured for two to three months in a haystack that imparts its hay and walnut flavour, as well as a Tomme au cidre, whose rind is washed with cider during maturation. The cheese dairy offers tours of the farm followed by a tasting, as well as direct sales at the farm and at local markets, organic shops and local grocery stores.
One hundred and seventy-five years after Charles Gervais discovered the recipe for petit-suisse in this very village, Jean-Marie Beaudoin recreates the old-fashioned farmhouse version: a twenty-four-hour curdling followed by thirty-six hours of draining, before moulding with a piping bag.
| Address | Le Gd Chem. (Orsimont), 60650 Villers-sur-Auchy, France |
| 09 71 20 83 40 | |
| beaudoin.jm@orange.fr | |
| fromageriebeaudoin.com | |
| Facebook page | |
| @fromagerie_bio_jean_marie | |
| Visits | Yes — direct sales at the farm (Wed. and Fri. 16:00–19:00, Sat. 10:00–13:00) |
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All production is certified organic, since 2010. |