A hard pressed cow's milk cheese shaped like a cannonball, colored vivid orange with annatto and aged from young to extra-old, traditionally in the cellars of Lille. Commissioned in the seventeenth century as a French alternative to Edam, it is also called Boule de Lille — ball of Lille. Extra-old wheels are famously ripened with cheese mites that pit the rind.
Mimolette is a hard pressed cow's milk cheese from the Lille area of the Nord. Wikipedia documents its commissioning in the seventeenth century under Louis XIV and his minister Colbert, who wanted a French alternative to Dutch Edam, with annatto dye added for the orange color. The wheels were traditionally aged in the cellars of Lille, the source of the alternate name Boule de Lille. Mimolette is sold from jeune (young) to extra-vieille (extra-old).
A wedge of Mimolette shows a vivid orange paste beneath a rough, pitted rind dusted with a fine powder — the work of cheese mites. Young, it is supple and buttery; extra-old, it firms and dries to a brittle, crystalline texture with deep nutty, butterscotch notes.
Mimolette's character rests on annatto coloring and deliberate cheese-mite aging. Annatto — a natural dye from the achiote seed — gives the vivid orange color with no flavor. The long affinage dries the paste into a brittle, crystalline texture; tyrosine crystals give the crunch. The ripening rind is colonized by cheese mites that graze on the surface, micro-pitting the rind — this is deliberate and integral to extra-old Mimolette's character.
Variations
Sold from jeune through demi-vieille to extra-vieille; the older the wheel, the drier, more crystalline, and more mite-pitted.
On the Palate
Where Mimolette sits in the French flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 30How it's made
6 steps · 45 min
- 130 min
Warm cow's milk, add annatto for color, then starter and rennet.
- 230 min
Cut the curd, press into spherical molds, and brine.
- 360 min
Age in cool cellars — traditionally those of Lille — for two months to two years.
Watch outAge it long in a cool cellar until the paste dries brittle and crystalline — the tyrosine crystals are the crunch; too young and it's just rubbery.
- 430 min
For extra-old wheels, allow cheese mites to colonize and pit the rind.
- 520 min
Turn regularly and brush; grade by age.
- 65 min
Release jeune, demi-vieille, or extra-vieille.
