All about french cheeses > Abondance > The various stages of production

1. The whole, raw milk is poured into a copper cauldron, then curdled by adding rennet. The resulting curds are sliced, then heated.

2. The farm producer slices the curds by hand using a tranche-caillé (a wire-framed slicer). Then, using the linen cloth tied around his neck, he pours out the curd grains, leaving the whey behind.

3. The curds are poured into a circular mould which eventually gives the cheese wheel its characteristically concave sides.

4. The cheese is then salted and placed on spruce planks in a cool, moist ripening room (a "maturing cave"), where it is left to mature for at least three months.