Француздың иісті жұмсақ қызыл қызыл түсті Эпуас ірімшiгі

French soft cheese
the cheese

Époisses (epwas), also known as Époisses de Bourgogne (epwas də buʁɡɔɲ), is a legally demarcated cheese made in the village of Époisses and its environs, in the département of Côte d'Or, about halfway between Dijon and Auxerre, in the former duchy of Burgundy, France, from agricultural processes and resources traditionally found in that region. Époisses is a pungent soft paste cow's milk cheese. Smear ripened, "washed rind" (washed in brine and Marc de Bourgogne, the local pomace brandy), it is circular at around either or in diameter, with a distinctive soft red orange color. It is made either from raw or pasteurized milk. It is sold in a circular wooden box and, in restaurants, is sometimes served with a spoon due to its extremely soft texture. The cheese is often paired with Trappist beer or even Sauternes rather than a red wine.

At the start of the sixteenth century, the village was home to a community of Cistercians at Cîteaux Abbey that, according to oral legend, began production of the cheese. Two hundred years later, when the community left, local farmers inherited the recipe, which developed over the next century. Napoleon was particularly fond of the cheese, and the famous epicure Jean Anthelme Brillat Savarin classed it as the "king of all cheeses". Although popular at the start of the twentieth century, with over 300 farms manufacturing the cheese, production had all but died out by the end of the Second World War. This resulted from the loss of a significant portion of the male population, leaving the women to work the fields, which in turn led to the neglect of the local dairy businesses and cheese making. In 1956 a pair of small farmers, Robert and Simone Berthaut, decided to re launch the production of Époisses by mobilizing the traditional skills of those who still knew how to make the cheese. Berthaut Époisses increasingly gained favor among its devotees and became a spectacular success. The business is now carried on by their son, Jean Berthaut. Fromagerie Berthaut is currently responsible for the manufacture of all fermier Époisses, although several artisanal fromageries now manufacture the cheese.