Abbaye du Mont des Cats is a mild cow's-milk cheese made inside a Trappist monastery in French Flanders. The current abbey shop describes the Grand as a yellow-rind disc about 20 cm across and close to 2 kg.
The name causes one specific problem at the counter. There is also a Mont des Cats beer, and the abbey does not brew it.
Sort out which of the two the monks make before you spend anything, because it tells you what the abbey name on the label covers.
In This Article
Is the Cheese Actually Made at the Abbey?
The International Trappist Association lists Mont des Cats cheeses as Authentic Trappist Products, made in the abbey's own cheese-making facility. Mont des Cats beer is not among the eight beers that the abbey's beer page lists with that label.
The beer is real. The abbey says it launched it in 2011, brewed at first under the auspices of Scourmont Abbey in Belgium by the Chimay brewery, and that its own brewery, damaged in the 1918 bombing, was never rebuilt.
So the Authentic Trappist Product label on the abbey's cheese does not extend to the bottle of Mont des Cats beer next to it.
The community settled on the hill in 1826, and the abbey's beer page dates its fromagerie to 1849, a year after its first brewery. Culture and Androuet date the cheese to 1880, while Produits Laitiers says the monks have made it since 1890.
The same page says the fromagerie was the community's main resource for half a century, and the abbey's shop describes the recipe as carried out by the monks.
The abbey's own farm stopped in the early 1970s and its land was let out, the beer page adds. The milk the shop names today is whole milk from the Monts de Flandres, while the making and affinage stay at the monastery.
What Does Abbaye du Mont des Cats Taste Like?
Butter and fresh cream run through the middle, then a savoury, lightly mushroomy finish comes from the washed rind, in the description by The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills.
The paste is pale cream, supple and elastic under the knife, scattered with small holes.
Culture Cheese Magazine describes the flavour as mild and subtle, with notes of milk and hay, so if you came looking for a loud Trappist cheese, choose another one.
On the rind, Produits Laitiers describes a light cellar smell.
How Does the Rind Differ by Variant?
The standard Grand Mont des Cats has a yellow washed rind. The abbey's current shop reserves the explicit roucou, or annatto, description for Le Flamay, whose paste and rind are more orange.
L'Immersus moves in a different direction: its amber rind follows a 48-hour immersion in Mont des Cats beer. Rind colour therefore helps you tell the variants apart.
The abbey says the cheeses mature on wooden boards for about a month and are rubbed with the cultures it calls ferments du rouge. Culture gives four to five weeks of maturation, and The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills describes the wheel it sells as aged roughly two months.
Is Abbaye du Mont des Cats Pasteurized?
The abbey's shop names pasteurized whole milk for the Grand Mont des Cats, both desserts and Le Flamay, and Culture says the milk is gently pasteurized.
Under 21 CFR 133.187, a semisoft cheese made from milk that has not been pasteurized must be cured at not less than 35 degrees F for not less than 60 days.
Androuet describes the monks collecting raw milk from 25 nearby farms, while the abbey's shop describes pasteurized milk, so read the milk line on the label of the piece in front of you.
For pregnancy, the milk is not the only check. The CDC lists unheated cheese sliced at a deli as a riskier choice, and deli-sliced cheese heated to 165°F or until steaming hot as a safer one.
Check the exact package and use the current pregnancy cheese guidance for your jurisdiction, especially when a wedge has been cut at a deli counter.
Which Cheeses Carry the Mont des Cats Name?
The Mont des Cats range runs to seven cheeses under the Authentic Trappist Product label on the International Trappist Association's list, and to six core products in the abbey's current shop, the seventh being the association's Le Mont des Cats with Westvleteren 8 Trappist beer.
Next to the 2 kg Grand, the other cheeses differ in size, minimum ageing, colour or beer treatment.
| Grand Mont des Cats | About 2 kg, yellow washed rind, minimum three weeks |
| Le dessert des trappistes | About 600 g, yellow washed rind, minimum three weeks |
| Le Flamay | About 600 g, orange color from roucou, minimum three weeks |
| La Bourle trappiste | About 2 kg, orange paste and rind, minimum three months |
| L'Immersus 48h | About 1.8 kg, immersed in Mont des Cats beer for 48 hours, minimum two months |
| Le dessert long affinage | About 500 g, minimum eight weeks |
| Mont des Cats with Westvleteren 8 | Listed by the association as Le Mont des Cats with Westvleteren 8 Trappist beer |
Two are especially useful to distinguish. The 600 g dessert des trappistes is the practical buy when a 2 kg Grand would leave a large cut face to store.
The other is L'Immersus, which the abbey's shop says spends 48 hours immersed in Mont des Cats beer.
The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills lists it simply as Mont des Cats Trappist Cheese, so ask the counter which of the abbey's cheeses they are cutting from.
The Mont des Cats name covers several sizes, ages, and surface treatments. Ask for the exact product name, size, and finish rather than relying on the abbey name alone.
Does Mont des Cats Melt Well?
The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills calls it approachable and melty, and its top recipe is the cheese melted on rustic country bread. It also suggests melting it into a tartine.
The same shop lists wholegrain mustard among its pairings and says sharp mustard plays off the savoury washed rind.
What Do You Drink with Mont des Cats?
Androuet pairs this cheese with Muscadet sur lie or another dry white wine.
The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills lists Belgian Trappist ale, which it says lifts the rind's funk, along with Pinot Noir, Côtes du Rhône and dry cider, which it says match the buttery paste.
For fruit, the same shop names Bartlett pears, Honeycrisp apples and fresh figs, and for something sweet, cherry preserves and acacia honey.
How Do You Buy and Store Mont des Cats?
If you buy from The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills, the cheese comes hand-cut by weight rather than as a whole disc, so what you judge is a cut face and a strip of rind.
Produits Laitiers describes a thin, moist rind over an evenly cream-coloured, dense paste, and Culture describes the rind as slightly tacky to the touch.
For a sealed cheese, the abbey's shop gives a best-before date (DLUO) of 2 months after the packing date for five of its six cheeses and 1 month for L'Immersus.
What Can Replace Mont des Cats?
Culture says Mont des Cats is made much the way Port Salut is, and The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills puts it in the same family as Port-Salut. If you cannot find Mont des Cats, Port Salut is the cheese both tie it to.
SOURCES & REFERENCES
What Else Do People Ask About Mont des Cats?
Two questions come up about this cheese beyond how it tastes and where to buy it.
No. The abbey states that it sets the milk with rennet taken from a calf's stomach, so the cheese is not vegetarian.
It is another name for the same cheese on Produits Laitiers' listing. Check the exact product label because the Mont des Cats range contains several sizes and finishes.
