Mimolette: The Cannonball Cheese Ripened by Mites That the FDA Once Seized

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It looks like a cannonball, cuts like a rock, and glows orange like a sunset. Mimolette, the "Boule de Lille" from northern France, is one of the world's strangest great cheeses — a wheel deliberately colonized by microscopic mites, once seized by the ton at American ports, and reportedly the favorite cheese of Charles de Gaulle.

Born From a Trade War

Louis XIV Wanted a French Edam

In the 17th century, Dutch Edam was beloved in France — until Louis XIV's protectionist policies banned foreign imports and demanded a domestic substitute. Cheesemakers around Lille answered with their own version: a cow's milk cheese colored deep orange with annatto, partly so no one could mistake it for the pale Dutch original. The French nicknamed it "Vieux Hollande" — Old Holland — a backhanded tribute to the cheese it replaced.

The Boule de Lille

The shape became the signature: a flattened sphere, like a cantaloupe or a cannonball, with a thick gray-brown rind that looks like the cratered surface of the moon. That rind is not decoration. It is evidence.

The Mites Are the Point

Tiny Ripeners

Mimolette is one of the few cheeses in the world whose makers encourage cheese mites. Flour mites (Acarus siro) colonize the rind during aging, boring microscopic channels that let the cheese breathe and shaping its texture and flavor. Other cheesemakers wage war on mites with brushes and washes; Mimolette affineurs farm them. Before sale, the wheels are brushed and vacuumed — the mites do their work on the rind, which is inedible and always cut away.

Young vs. Aged

Young Mimolette is honestly a little dull — firm, mild, faintly fruity. Patience transforms it. At twelve months and beyond (vieille, and extra vieille at up to two years), the paste hardens to a dense, deep-orange intensity: nutty, fruity, with butterscotch and caramel depths, almost like an aged Gouda that spent time in France. Aged wheels are famously hard enough to threaten careless knives.

2013: The Great Mimolette Seizure

Six Mites Per Square Inch

In March 2013, the FDA began detaining Mimolette at US ports, treating cheese mites as a potential allergen and applying a threshold of roughly six mites per square inch. Over a ton of cheese was held; exporters stopped shipping rather than risk destruction of entire loads, and Mimolette vanished from American shelves. The FDA insisted there was no formal ban — just enforcement.

Save the Mimolette

American cheese lovers protested, organizing under a "Save the Mimolette" banner, while scientists pointed out that mites are a normal, traditional part of ripening many aged cheeses. Within about two years the pressure eased, shipments resumed, and the cannonballs quietly rolled back onto US shelves — where they remain a specialty-shop prize today.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are the mites in Mimolette safe to eat?

The mites live in the rind, not the paste, and the rind is not eaten. Wheels are brushed and vacuumed before sale. The FDA's 2013 concern was allergic reaction to mite traces; the cheese has been eaten safely in France for centuries, and it is back on the US market under importers' compliance with FDA standards.

What does aged Mimolette taste like?

Nutty, fruity, and deeply savory, with butterscotch and caramel notes and a dense, firm texture that crumbles and melts rather than slices cleanly. Think of it as France's answer to aged Gouda — and a spectacular orange anchor for any cheese board.

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