Mont des Cats is a small hill (alt. 150m) near the town of Godewaersvelde

Godewaersvelde

-References:*...

, in French Flanders

French Flanders

French Flanders is a part of the historical County of Flanders in present-day France. The region today lies in the modern-day region of Nord-Pas de Calais, the department of Nord, and roughly corresponds to the arrondissements of Lille, Douai and Dunkirk on the Belgian border.-Geography:French...

. Its name in Dutch is Katsberg.
It is the seat of an abbey bearing the same name, famous for the cheese produced by the monks since 1890.

Origin of the name

The name has nothing to do with cat

Cat

The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...

s, but is derived from the name of a Germanic tribe known as Chatti

Chatti

The Chatti were an ancient Germanic tribe whose homeland was near the upper Weser. They settled in central and northern Hesse and southern Lower Saxony, along the upper reaches of the Weser River and in the valleys and mountains of the Eder, Fulda and Weser River regions, a district approximately...

 (French: Chattes; Dutch; Chatten), living in the area after the fall of the Roman Empire (5th century). The Dutch name is supposed to be also the root for the name of the town Katwijk

Katwijk

Katwijk is a coastal municipality and town in the province of South Holland in the western Netherlands. It has a population of 61,292.-Location:...

.

Mont des Cats Abbey

A first community of the Hospital Brothers of St. Anthony

Hospital Brothers of St. Anthony

The Hospital Brothers of St. Anthony, Order of St. Anthony or Canons Regular of St. Anthony of Vienne , also Antonines, were a Roman Catholic congregation founded in 1095 or so, with the purpose of caring for those suffering from the common medieval disease of St...

 was settled in 1650 and lasted until the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

 which closed the monastery in 1792. In 1826, a new community of Trappists

Trappists

The Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance , or Trappists, is a Roman Catholic religious order of cloistered contemplative monks who follow the Rule of St. Benedict...

 (Reformed Cistercians) was funded, and this congregation has run the abbey ever since.

Mont des Cats cheese

Mont des Cats cheese has been produced by the monks since 1890 with the milk of local farms, in a small independent dairy.
The production method are similar to those used for Port Salut. Affinage (maturing) takes a minimum of one month and during this period the cheese is washed in salted water and dyed with roucou, a reddish derivative from annatto

Annatto

Annatto, sometimes called roucou or achiote, is a derivative of the achiote trees of tropical regions of the Americas, used to produce a yellow to orange food coloring and also as a flavoring...

 seeds. The texture of the cheese is firm, uncooked, pressed and has small holes. The fat content is 50%.
In Flanders

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

it is sometimes eaten as a breakfast cheese with coffee.