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About the Tête de Moine  
A cheese that is older than Switzerland

In the year 1192, the monks of Bellelay Abbey succeeded in producing a cheese that was 
both tasty and durable. It also had to be handy since it was also used as a means of payment - in 1346 the Abbot of Bellelay paid a lease with 191 pounds of cheese. Also the Prince-Bishop of Basle always received a consignment of cheese as a New Year's Day gift. 

In 1797, the French Revolution troops invaded the country and expelled the monks. But their cheese has survived and is to the present day considered a famous delicacy.

The area in which the Tête de Moine has now been produced for over 800 years includes three districts that used to belong to the Principality and Diocese of Basle - Moutier and Courtelary in the Canton of Bern, Franches Montagnes in the Canton of Jura.
Letter of 16 August 1570 from the Abbot of Bellelay to the Governing Bishop of Basle in which the name "Bellelay Cheese" is mentioned for the first time.