Port-Salut Cheese

Port-Salut (pronounced PORE-sah-LOO) is a semisoft, velvety French cheese with a mellow, sweet-and-savory flavor. Perhaps the first cheese made from pasteurized cow's milk, Port-Salut originated in the Loire Valley, in a Trappist monastery in the Brittany region of France, during the middle of the 19th century. Most modern versions of Port-Salut, now produced primarily in large corporate plants, taste slightly tangy, similar to American-made Monterey Jack.

What Is Port-Salut?

Small producers around the Loire Valley still make Port-Salut in the old style, but many modern versions come out of large cheese factories, making them a bit more nondescript. Traditionally produced Port-Salut tends to develop a mushroomy, ripe aroma as it matures. Generally aged for about 60 days in 5-pound disks, the cheese develops a signature orange rind and smooth, pale yellow paste. In the United States, imported Port-Salut more closely resembles the traditional cheese even though it may come from a large dairy. American imitations tend to be less flavorful, with a wax covering instead of a natural rind.

How Port-Salut Is Made

In the mid-1800s, Trappist monks first made Port-Salut, naming it after their abbey Notre Dame du Port du Salut in Entrammes, Brittany. Like many monastery cheeses, Port-Salut was made for personal consumption and guests of the monks. Eventually, they began selling the cheese and registered Port-Salut as a tradename. The monks washed the aging cheese in brine, giving it a fuller flavor and encasing it in a natural orange rind.

In the 1950s, the monks sold the rights to a large dairy, and the name became the trademark of the Société Anonyme des Fermiers Réunis (S.A.F.R.) for Saint-Paulin. This generic spin-off of the original Port-Salut may be more widely available, but it lacks the distinctive savory flavor of a traditional Port-Salut.

Substitutes

Cheeses labeled as Port-Salut and Saint-Paulin can be used interchangeably in most cases, and you can generally find them at well-stocked grocery stores. The fuller-flavored Danish version of Port-Salut, called Esrom, has a more pungent aroma and holey paste, but it melts comparatively well. Look for Esrom at specialty cheese shops, where it comes in foil-wrapped wedges. Havarti, Muenster, and Monterey Jack also make acceptable substitutes if a recipe specifies Port-Salut.

Uses

Port-Salut is frequently served with fruit and crackers. With a lower price point than most artisanal cheeses, Port-Salut makes an economical filler on a cheese platter, usually cut into cubes. Port-Salut also melts easily, making it a good choice for a Mornay sauce or a grilled cheese sandwich. Try it sliced on a baguette, shredded onto pizza, or in fondue.

French Port-Salut can be found in most cheese shops and many grocery stores, or online.

Storage

Port-Salut usually comes in a sealed protective wrapper or wax covering, and it keeps in the refrigerator this way for a week or two. Once you open the store packaging, it's best eaten within a few days. You can store any leftover hunks wrapped in parchment or butcher paper inside a zip-lock plastic food storage bag or airtight container—in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks and in the freezer for up to three months. The texture changes as it thaws, though, so for best results, use it melted rather than on a cheese plate or otherwise fresh.

Port-Salut Recipes

Port-Salut's mild flavor and good melting quality make it an easy cheese to use in almost any recipe calling for mild melted cheese such as Monterey Jack, American, or havarti.

• Easy Cheese Sauce
• Fifty Dollar Rib-Eye Burger
• Easy Scalloped Potatoes

Can You Eat the Rind?

The bright orange rind on a traditionally produced Port-Salut comes from the process of washing it with brine, making it edible. But many of the more widely available factory-produced versions skip that step, wrapping the cheese in cloth or a thin layer of inedible wax to protect it during distribution.