Monastery cheese
Cheese made, or first made, by monks, most often supple washed-rind cheeses from Trappist abbeys.
Also: abbey cheese, Trappist cheese, fromage d'abbaye, Klosterkäse
Monasteries were among Europe's great cheesemakers for a thousand years. Monks needed food that kept, had land and herds, and followed fasting rules that often banned meat but allowed cheese. Many famous cheeses began in abbeys: Munster in the Vosges, Maroilles in the north of France, Port-Salut, Pont-l'Évêque, Tête de Moine at Bellelay, Taleggio in Lombardy and Wensleydale in Yorkshire, brought by Cistercians from France. The typical abbey cheese is a semi-soft, washed-rind wheel with an orange, pungent rind and a mild, supple paste, and the Trappist abbeys of Belgium and France still make it today, alongside their beer.