Tête de Moine AOC

Origin:  Bern region, Switzerland

Milk: Cow

Rennet Type: Animal rennet

Style: Alpine-style, cooked-curd

Classification: Artisan

Shelf Life: 7-10 days, this product is cut to order

Goes well with: Dry white wines, farmhouse ales or ciders

Similar cheeses: Swiss Gruyère, First Konig

Printable Cheese Note

Tête de Moine (TET du MWAHN) is a small semi-hard cheese from the Jura region of the Swiss Alps. The cheese has a clean, aromatic, fruity flavour, with a condensed nutty texture & slight sweet toffee finish. It is ivory in colour, with a slightly softer texture than traditional Gruyère.

Traditionally, this small drum of cheese is served with the cheese being carefully scraped with a knife to produce thin shavings; this is said to help develop scented flavours by allowing oxygen to reach more surface. It can also be placed on a 'Girolle' to make wafer thin cheese curls/rosettes. The monks of Bellelay Abbey created this small Gruyère style cheese. The name Tête de Moine was allegedly coined by the French during the 1790s and relates to a shaved monk’s head. 

A little history about Tête de Moine

The Tête de Moine is said to have been produced more than eight centuries ago by the monks of the abbey of Bellelay, located the mountainous zone of Bernese Jura, the French-speaking area of Canton Bern. Records dating back to 1292 show that the cheese was used to pay royalties of the stockbreeders to the farmers owners, to regulate litigations, being offered as gifts to prince-bishops of Basel and even as currency.

Tête de Moine translates to 'Monk’s Head.'