petit suisse

Petit-suisse is a fromage frais, an unripened, unsalted, smooth, and creamy cheese with a texture closer to a very thick yogurt than a typical cheese. It is made from cow's milk enriched with cream so that its dry solids contain about 40% fat content (around 10% in the actual product eaten). The cheese is then smoothed and drained in a centrifuge. A typical cheese weighs 30 or 60 grams and is packaged in a cylinder around 4 cm high and 3 cm diameter or 5 cm by 4 cm in the larger size.

Petit-suisse may be consumed with sugar, as a dessert either on its own or with jam or honey, or salted and peppered with herbs. It is also used in meat stuffings. A mixture of petit-suisse and mustard is sometimes applied to rabbit to prevent the meat from drying during cooking.

Contrary to what its name suggests, petit-suisse did not originate in Switzerland, but in Normandy, where in the 1850s, a Swiss employee at a dairy in Auvilliers (Normandy) suggested adding cream to enrich the curd used for cheese.{{cite web |url=http://www.cniel.com/prodlait/fromage/FROFRAI/Frofrai3.html |title=Les Fromages Frais : Les Dénominations |accessdate=2013-01-02 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120202120926/http://www.cniel.com/prodlait/fromage/FROFRAI/Frofrai3.html |archivedate=2012-02-02 }}

Originally, it was sold in a thin paper wrapping and packaged in wooden boxes, six to a box. The cheeses weighed 60 grams each and were called simply "suisse" (Swiss). Today, they are made throughout France. Though the 60-g version is often seen labelled petit suisse, the term is sometimes reserved for the 30-g ones, the larger ones then being referred to as a double petit-suisse, double suisse, or suisse double.

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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20101017105335/http://www.taste-camembert.com/fromages-de-normandie/fromage-petit-suisse.php Fromages de Normandie]

Category:Norman cuisine

Category:French cheeses

Category:Cow's-milk cheeses

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