"Abundance." A wheel of firm, smooth cheese with a buttery, nutty flavour, made with milk from Abondance cows with milk also from Tarine and Montbéliarde cows. A single cheese of 21 lb (9.5 kg) takes 10 litres (20 pints) of milk. It has light yellow paste and a smooth brownish-grey, natural, washed rind. It is made in dairies, as a farmhouse cheese, in valleys of the Dranses, and industrially in Savoy in the Alps, near the Swiss border. This traditional cheese is at its best from July to November (US: fall), is made from raw whole milk and contains 40-48% fat (dry). The wheel usually weighs in at 12 kg (15-22 lb). Affinage is at least 90 days. Farmhouse cheeses have an oval, blue casein label, while other types have a square label. Abondance cows also contribute milk to the other great cheeses of the area: Reblochon, Tomme de Savoie and Beaufort. It is an excellent melting cheese, which can be used in the same way as Raclette. The rind is not eaten. (AOC-1990). This really is one of my favourite cheese. The cows munch the grasses and meadow flowers of the Haute-Savoie and I imagine their great contentment as I eat this wonderful cheese.
