A French cheesemaker has created a new type of cheese after he forgot about items stored in his cellar during the lockdown.

Lockdown has been difficult for many of France’s artisan cheesemakers as sales collapsed when markets, restaurants and workplace canteen throughout the country closed down.

One cheesemaker in the Vosges area was left with many unsold munster cheeses on his hands, so he stored some in the cellar and forgot about them.

But when Lionel Vaxelaire, who owns 25 cows and converts all their milk into the strong-smelling, soft white munster cheese, rediscovered his cheeses, he found something interesting.

They had developed a greenish-grey flowery rind and a completely new flavour.

He told local French news: “We left about 60 munsters at the bottom of the cellar. We even forgot about them a bit. After a month of maturing, we tasted one that had new flavours!