Tome des Bauges

The cheese

Across the Bauges massif, straddling Savoie and Haute-Savoie, the word 'tome' in Savoyard dialect means any cheese made on alpine pastures — and Tome des Bauges embodies that high-altitude tradition inherited from summer grazing. AOC since 2002 and AOP since 2007, it is made from the raw milk of Tarine, Abondance, and Montbéliarde cows, with the first two breeds required to make up at least half of each herd. The cheese forms a cylinder of eighteen to twenty centimetres weighing around 1.2 kilos, with pressed uncooked paste and a textured grey rind that affineurs call 'cat's fur'. A minimum five weeks on spruce planks in cool, intensely humid caves yields ivory paste dotted with small openings, marked by lactic and hazelnut aromas. Enjoy from April to September in savoury tart, Savoyard fondue, or simply on grilled country bread.