Cantal AOP: The Oldest Cheese in France

Cantal — the ancient pressed cow's milk cheese of the Massif Central and one of the oldest cheeses in the world — has a history that stretches back further than almost anything else in French food culture. Today's Food Tour de France episode starts in Aurillac — the capital of the Cantal department, right in the heart of the volcanic Auvergne — and tells the story of a cheese that Pliny the Elder was writing about in his Historia Naturalis in the first century AD, that officially bears its name since 1298, and that received its AOC in 1956. A full-size wheel weighs between 35 and 45 kilograms and requires 400 litres of milk to produce. It comes in three ages — young, between, and old — that are genuinely different cheeses in character. And it has been made in the same landscape, from the milk of cows grazing on the same volcanic pastures, for two thousand years. Before we go any further — I want to say that I have done a full dedicated episode on Cantal with the wonderful Jennifer Greco, who knows more about this cheese than almost anyone. Go and find that episode in the catalogue. Today is the introduction. She delivers the complete picture.

The episode covers the essential story of Cantal — the volcanic Massif Central landscape that produces grass of extraordinary quality, with more than sixty different plant species grazed by the cows in summer whose botanical diversity ends up directly in the milk and the cheese. The three ages — Cantal Jeune, mild and buttery at 30 to 60 days; Cantal Entre-Deux, complex and nutty at 90 to 210 days; and Cantal Vieux, bold, deeply flavoured and occasionally slightly crumbly at a minimum of 240 days — and the extraordinary double-pressing technique that sets Cantal apart from almost every other pressed cheese in France. We also cover the historic burons — the stone summer shelters on the high chaumes where the buronniers spent months in complete isolation making cheese — and the royal connection, when the Marshal Henri de La Ferté-Senneterre brought Cantal to the court of Louis XIV and changed French cheese culture forever.

The Food Tour de France is a daily series running alongside the 2026 Tour de France on Fabulously Delicious — one episode for every stage start and finish. The Cantal episode connects directly to the pachade episode finishing at Le Lioran — the two episodes together give a complete picture of the food culture of the Cantal mountains, the volcanic landscape that has been producing extraordinary food since before the Romans arrived. And for the full story of Cantal cheese told with genuine expertise and passion, go and find the episode with Jennifer Greco in the main Fabulously Delicious catalogue.

As Fabulously Delicious steps into its sixth year, one thing is clearer than ever: five years of French food culture has taught Andrew that the subject is genuinely inexhaustible.

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