Girolle
A Swiss tool with a central spike and a turning blade that shaves Tête de Moine into thin frilly rosettes.
Also: Tête de Moine curler, cheese curler
The girolle was invented in the Swiss Jura in 1982 by Nicolas Crevoisier for one cheese, Tête de Moine, a firm washed-rind cheese once made by monks at Bellelay Abbey. The top of the drum-shaped cheese is sliced off, the cheese is pushed onto a vertical spike set in a wooden base, and a blade fixed to a crank is turned across the top. It scrapes off a thin ribbon that curls into a frilly rosette, said to look like the flower called girolle. Shaving lets more air reach the cheese, so the flavour opens. Before the girolle, Tête de Moine was scraped with a knife. The tool now works on other firm cheeses too.