We have been working ewe's milk for over 10 years now with the following as our prime concern : "To progress and to offer our customers top quality cheeses made with unpasteurized milk".

All this is based on three things :

• The quality of the raw material

Here, with utmost rigour, our producers have specifications to respect: The choice of ovine race : the Lacaune ewe, native to the south of the Massif Central (with which the incomparable Roquefort is made), is the dairy ewe par excellence.

The choice of a diet that respects the physiology of the ruminant and guarantees a good organoleptic quality of the milk. So, from 1st April to 1st November the ewes are out in the pastures and in winter they are fed meadow hay (fodder dehydrated by the sun), all with a complement of cereals and vegetable proteins depending on the season and the quantity of milk produced.

We have deliberately forbidden ensilage (preserving fodder by fermented humid means), this is particularly in order to limit the risks of Listeria monocytogenes. This is a pathogenic bacteria present everywhere in the ground.

• The quality of production

Curdled, drained and cut into blocks Each block is placed in a mould

At the Terre Dieu cheese dairy, we have chosen to work unpasteurized milk ; hygiene is therefore the concern at all the links in the chain. With the "Laboratoire Interprofessionnel de l'Alimentation d'Aurillac" (Cantal) food laboratory, every week we control the quality level of the milk : substance and bacteriology. Consequently, mediocre milk will be paid 0,68 euros per litre, whereas first-rate milk can fetch 1,14 euros per litre. The price stimulus induces the producers to be very strict on quality, which guarantees us an impeccable raw material. With this raw material we apply pressed uncooked cheese technology. We do not have any strong heat treatment, the milk is always worked at the temperature of the animal, in this way the initial lactic flora is respected as well as the taste.

First turning in the cloth mould

24-hour brine wash

• The quality of maturing

Here, all the Auvergne culture expresses itself. In Auvergne, land of cheeses, with five A.O.C. labels for : the "Cantal", the "Salers", the "Saint Nectaire", the "Fourme d'Ambert" and the "Bleu d'Auvergne"; we say "The flavour of cheeses is but the fruit of gestures and days".

Here, at the Terre Dieu cheese dairy we mature (ripen):

• On fir wood,
• In almost 800m3 of cellars, at cold temperature : below 10°C,
• For a long time: 3 to 6 months for the Lavort,
• And all this in very damp surroundings.

It is with patience that the alchemy of the milk in the cellar will give the cheese its mould-covered, colourful rind together with its unique flavour.