Port-Salut cheese, the one French cheese found in practically every grocery store in America, has a long and slightly confusing history. It is an old French cheese that was originally made in the town of Entrammes, in the western part of France close to the peninsula of Brittany.
A monastery of Trappist Monks fled France during the French Revolution, near the end of the 18th century. They sought refuge in the Alps, where they learned to make Gruyere cheese.
When the monks returned to France to build a new monastery at Entrammes in 1815, they named it Notre Dame du Port du Salut, bought a few cows and began making cheese for their own consumption.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Evansville Courier & Press