Livarot cheese has a cylindrical shape, 11 to 12 cm in diameter and 4 to 5 cm thick, weighing 350 to 500 grams. It is surrounded by 5 sedges, aquatic plants produced exclusively for this use, which hold the cheese in place, as it tended to sag due to its low fat content. It was nicknamed "the colonel" in homage to the colonel's stripes.

Livarot cheese is aged for three months in a humid cellar, washed with salt water.

• Its texture: supple without running
• Its taste: spicy to gamey depending on its ripening
• Its flavor: intense and strong smell