Process for producing a cheese with a natural moldy rind

A process for producing a cheese from milk, comprising the following steps:

• (i) preparing a cheese slurry from milk, either by renneting, or by gelling of the milk, and molding the cheese slurry;
• (ii) inoculating the molded cheese obtained in step (i) with microorganisms, at least one of which is a mold;
• (iii) ripening the cheese in step (ii);
• and
• (iv) subjecting the ripened cheese obtained at the end of step (iii) to a heat treatment;
• wherein said heat treatment comprises a step of immersing the ripened cheese in an atmosphere saturated with steam or in a water bath wherein said heat treatment is effected for about 10 seconds to 5 minutes in said steam or water bath at a temperature of about 60 to 100° C.;
• wherein said cheese has characteristic features of:
• a) having in a rind a quantity of spores of molds measured in logarithmic unit of spores capable of forming colonies, of about 0.75 to 3.5 logarithmic units;
• and
• b) containing live lactic ferments.