Munster (), Munster-géromé, or (Alsatian) Minschterkaas, is a soft cheese with a subtle taste, made mainly from milk first produced in the Vosges, between the Alsace-Lorraine and Franche-Comté regions in France. The name "Munster" is derived from the Alsace town of Munster, where, among Vosgian abbeys and monasteries, the cheese was conserved and matured in monks' cellars. History This cheese originated in the Admodiation, an area on the top of the Vosgian mountains of France, named "Chaumes" or "Les grandes Chaumes" (comitatus Calvomontensis). Calvomontensis is the Latin for a mountaintop without woods. As early as 1371, and possibly before, these territories were occupied by cattle herds driven by men, called "marcaires" (from the Alsatian "Malker", Milker in English), pastured there between May and September. When the herds returned to their valleys, the cattle herdsmen first paid the fees and tithes to the religious and political owners of the summer pastures or simply financiers of these migrations. During feudal times these owners possessed all goods, living creatures, rights of pasture and cattle. Those who herded were known as serfs. This mountain population paid their debts with cheese and jars of butter. The lords were the first religious establishments, women like chanoinesses from Remiremont or from Andlau, or men such as the chanoines or canons from Murbach or Saint-Dié, Benedictines from Munster, Senones, Moyenmoutier, and other monastic areas. Political protectors included the duke of Lorraine, count of Salm, count of Ribeaupierre, and other Alsatian noblemen. During the 17th century, this tradition, though disappearing, was maintained in two special places, Gérardmer in the western Lorraine part of the main range and Munster for the east and Alsatian part. Hence the two names of this cheese, gérômé and Munster written with little type. PDO in the European Union In the European Union, munster cheese is protected by an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC). This certification places the main steps of the cheese process under control. The producers are required to observe rigorously: A limited area of milk production, including a major part of Vosges, near the mountains of Alsace; the départements Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin; a few communes in département Haute-Saône; Belfort Territory; and the cantons of départements Moselle and Meurthe-et-Moselle. Precise characteristics of the transformation in cheese. It is made from unpasteurized cow's milk called "crude" or raw milk, from the above-described zone d'appellation contrôlée. This soft white cheese is formed into flat cylinders, with