Boulette d'Avesnes is a cow's milk cheese initially produced in Avesnes, a village on the French-Belgian border. It is flavoured with parsley, pepper, tarragon, and cloves and later shaped into a cone by hand. The cones (boulettes) were initially made using buttermilk on farms as a by-product of butter making. Most boulettes are sold fresh and supposed to be eaten within 30 days. During maturing, which lasts three months, the cheese is regularly washed with beer. Its rind is then tinted with annatto powder. The maturated version is kept in cellars where they develop reddish colour due to the effect of paprika or annatto, a natural food colouring.