Milk

Butter and cream from Isigny

Butter produced in Isigny has been exported from the town's own harbour to America, London, Antwerp and the French Colonies since as early as the 18th Century.
During the 19th Century, Parisians alone consumed around 800,000 kilos per year.
And if Isigny butter and cream are so popular across the globe, it's thanks to the surrounding environment. The Isigny countryside enjoys a mild, yet damp climate, benefiting from the nearby sea and the Cotentin and Bessin marshlands. The cows which graze in these luxuriant pastures provide rich quality milk. Not forgetting the locals skills and attention to tradition.

Isigny butter and cream were awarded their AOC quality label in 1986. Isigny butter is one of France's few AOC butters, whereas Isigny cream is the only one to have obtained an AOC in France.

Isigny butter is renowned for its buttercup yellow colour and its distinctive taste with a hint of hazelnut. As for its cream, it is smooth, flavoursome and full-bodied.

This full fat (40%) cream is a must for gourmets and delicious for concocting pastries, desserts and the culinary arts in general.

Take a look at our recipes using butter and cream from Isigny

Camembert

Camembert is by far Normandy's most famous cheese. Its history is linked to Marie Harel who, in 1791, designed an original cheese by improving the production of an existing local cheese. Hence, camembert was born. The cheese was named after the Orne village where it saw the light. Before spreading throughout Normandy, camembert was exclusively produced in the Pays d'Auge. Victim of its own success, there has been many an attempt at imitating camembert. Hence the creation of an AOC quality label in 1983, the origin of camembert stretching across the 5 Normandy departments.
Normandy camembert is produced with non-pasteurised cow's milk. It is a soft cheese with a very fine rind, a white duvet, and containing at least 45% fat.

2.2 litres of milk are required to produce one camembert cheese which is matured to perfection for 30 to 35 days in a cellar.

Take a look at our camembert recipes

Livarot

Livarot is one of Normandy's oldest cheeses. It is named after the town of Livarot, located in the heart of the Pays d'Auge in Calvados. Corneille paid tribute to this fine cheese in his dictionnaire universel published in 1708. But it was only in the 19th Century that the enthusiasm for livarot truly developed. At the time, it was the most widely consumed cheese in Normandy. It was even referred to as the "labourer's meat" thanks to its great nutritional value. Today, livarot is still produced in its homeland, the Pays d'Auge, and was awarded an AOC quality label in 1975.
Since 1996, livarot has also benefited from an AOP - Appellation d'Origine Protégée (protected label of origin), an official European sign of quality. Such recognition offers livarot cheese legal protection throughout European Union member states.

Livarot is a soft washed rind cheese made from cow's milk, and is reddish in colour. It is wrapped with three to five rings, referred to in French as "laîches". Strips of willow wood were formerly used and helped to hold the cheese together. Today, reeds or paper are used, and these rings play more of an aesthetic role than a technical one. Livarot is also referred to as Colonel, for its surrounding rings are reminiscent of a Colonel's golden stripes. This soft cheese contains at least 40% fat.

5 litres of milk are required to produce a livarot cheese which is matured for 60 days in a cellar.

Take a look at our livarot recipes

Pont l'évêque

This cheese owes its name to the small town of Pont L'Évêque which is located between Lisieux and Deauville, in Calvados. Pont l'évêque was originally produced by local monks as early as the 12th Century. During the Middle Ages, it was already a very popular cheese throughout Normandy. Guillaume de Lorris nicknamed it the « Angelot » (cherub) in his poem, Roman de la Rose. Later, in the 16th Century, the cheese was baptised Augelot, very probably to precisely depict its place of origin, the Pays d'Auge. And it is since the 17th Century, that it has been known simply as pont l'évêque.
Pont l'évêque was awarded an AOC quality of origin label in 1976, its production zone comprising all five Norman departments, together with Mayenne.

Pont l'évêque is a soft, washed or brushed rind cheese made from cow's milk. It has an orange-yellow to straw yellow colour. Pont l'évêque contains at least 45% fat.

3 litres of milk are required to produce one cheese, along with 40 to 45 days in a cellar to obtain a perfectly matured pont l'évêque.

Take a look at our pont l'évêque recipes

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