I often tell people, “I don’t do kitchen.” When I was caring for my young family, sure, I cooked and baked, but now I am on my own and I pretty much live on yogurt, sandwiches and take-out.
That’s why my friends were shocked when I said I was travelling to the Jura Massif region of eastern France to enjoy the medieval villages, relaxing scenery and to learn how Comté cheese is made.
My new-found interest in cheese making came from a brief article I read about the region that is smaller than the state of Rhode Island. It is the only place this specific cheese is made. I also found it fascinating that the process is more than 1,000 years old.
My visit was divided into three kinds of stops along the Comté Cheese Trail: dairy farms, fruitières where the cheese is made, and a massive storage facility where the cheese is aged.
Brothers Anael and Quentin Michaud own one of the farms I toured. They showed me around the barn and introduced me to a few of the new calves. “We name all our calves,” says Quentin. “This year, all the names will start with a P; the next calf will be Pokémon.”
I grew up on a small farm, but it has been years since I was in a barn with its pungent smells and scent of sweet hay mingled together. In addition to an exact region, the cheese is made from the milk of specific cows: 95 per cent Montbéliarde and five per cent French Simmental cows. The cows are milked twice a day and the milk is transported to a nearby fruitière.
Next, I was taken to the summer pasture a few miles away. Quentin explains that they herd the cows right through town in the spring and back again in the fall to the cows’ winter quarters at their farm.
The cows graze in lush green pastures during warmer weather and eat the same grass harvested into hay during the winter. Any fermented feed such as silage is prohibited because it adversely affects the quality of the milk, which is used raw. Comté has also refused GMOs (genetically modified organisms).
It’s afternoon milking time when we arrive. The two young men and their two dogs head off to herd the cows back to the barn. It is amazing to watch as the cattle enter a corral and move into the barn, taking turns to be milked; their bells clanging in a cacophony of sound. The first milk is extracted by hand before the milking machine is attached.
More than 3,000 family farms produce raw milk for the manufacture of Comté cheese in 50 small villages throughout the region. Each farm has about 40 cows plus calves and heifers. The average annual production of each farm amounts to about 270,000 litres.
MAKING COMTÉ
I arrive at fruitière de La Brune in Lievremont la Brune early in the morning for an opportunity to see the milk transformed into Comté. There are 153 fruitières in the region. Often located in the heart of the village, each fruitière receives milk from dairy farms located within an eight-mile radius to guarantee its absolute freshness.
The cheese maker explains through an interpreter that after arriving at the fruitière, the raw milk is filtered and poured into large copper vats where it is heated, and rennet is added. Rennet helps the milk coagulate and form a firm curd. After the curd forms, it is poured into large wheel-shaped molds and pressed for an entire day to squeeze out any excess whey.
It is then placed in a refrigerated area. The wheels, each weighing 36 kilograms, are turned every day, and a coarse salt solution is rubbed onto the rind.
The freshly made wheels are then pre-ripened for a few weeks before being moved to one of the 16 maturing cellars in the region.
MATURING THE CHEESE
In 1966, Marcel Petite discovered a military fort built in 1880 that was used to protect the Swiss border. Fort Saint Antoine’s structure of cut and vaulted stone, covered with a thick layer of soil, provides ideal conditions for slow maturing. The cave-like atmosphere of the fort is about 7ºC and 95 per cent humidity, which is excellent for the cheese.
Here, the affineurs look after the cheese for four to 18 months or longer; regularly turning, salting, and rubbing each wheel with a brine solution.
A young man explains that the cheese is not only stored here but graded as well. After four months, each round is tested and marked on its taste and shape. Flavours range from sweet, nutty and creamy to fruity and toasty.
Cheese wheels scoring more than 14 points are given the green band, representing excellent quality. Rounds rated between 12-14 points are given a brown band. And rounds scoring less than 12 are excluded from carrying the official label.
Comté production follows a lengthy set of strict rules and requirements, which guarantees the specificity of the cheese and remain the same from farm to fruitière to storage facility.
Cheese manufacturing is the result of farmers in the Middle Ages looking for a way to preserve food for winter. By producing the cheese, they could keep some of the milk produced in the summer. That’s how the fruitière was created.
Today, more than 63,000 tonnes of Comté are produced here every year.
In between learning about the cheese, I visit medieval villages and enjoy the beautiful mountainous landscape.
I leave France to continue my European adventures with a whole new attitude and understanding about what goes into this time-honoured process. I am impressed with the men and women who keep this tradition alive. The residents are proud of their heritage and are very welcoming to anyone interested in learning about their famous cheese.
I still don’t do kitchen, but I am sure open to taking more food-related tours. It was a fascinating adventure!
IF YOU GO:
The easiest way to reach the Jura Massif region is to fly into Geneva. Although there are usually English-speaking personnel at restaurants and hotels, you may want to brush up on your French or use a translator app when you are communicating with people in the villages and on farms.
The best way to learn more about the cheese, find recipes or start planning your trip is check the official website at www.comtecheese.co.uk or www.comte-usa.com
All photos by Marilyn Jones
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