Taste the Highlands Cheese – Comte AOC
The following article will describe one more special French cheese Comte. The earliest mention of this cheese Comte can be found in the works on Natural History by Guy Pliny Secundus, also known as Pliny the Elder, who lived in the first century AD. Comte cheese is also known as Gruyer de Comte.
History of preparing the Comte cheese
Cheese is prepared in small cheese dairies in the Franco-Condado region, Jura department, there are 190 such cheesemakers and they are called “fruitières”, which comes from the Latin word fructus – “fruit”, meaning the fruit of joint work, because without mutual consent, without mutual assistance, it would hardly have been possible to make cheeses weighing up to 40 kilograms. To make one such block of cheese, shaped like a large wheel, it takes about 530 liters of milk. Milk for cheese making is obtained from nearby farms.
It’s no secret that the taste of cheese is largely determined by the taste of milk from which this cheese is prepared. Cows of the Montbeliarde breed, whose milk is mainly used for the production of cheese, graze on high-mountain pastures famous for their herbs, from which the milk obtained has an amazingly sweet, fresh taste and aroma of mountain herbs, which is subsequently transferred to the cheese.
Initially, cheese began to be prepared in remote peasant farms in order to preserve the resulting milk. The production of such large cheeses required the efforts of all residents, and they were exported for sale only a few times a year, and then, mainly, on the occasion of some fair or other events, and the rest of the time they were kept in special chambers, “ripening” on the sly. The “ripening” period for Comte cheese ranges from six months to two years. During this period, the cheese blocks are regularly turned over, the surface is cleaned of the formed mold and rubbed with salt. The “ripening” process is monitored by the affineur, an experienced cheesemaker, who decides when it is already possible to transfer this or that cheese block for sale.
The quality and taste
Each cheese block released for sale receives a score in points. If the Comte cheese is made without external and internal defects, then it receives a score of 15 to 20 points and a green ribbon around the block, but if there are external defects on the cheese, then it is evaluated from 12 to 15 points and a brown tape. Cheese with a rating below 12 points are removed from the market and sent for processing to factories.
The texture of Comte cheese is dense, light yellow in color, the fat content is 45%. Cheese has found the most widespread use in French cooking: it is added to soups, used in the preparation of fondues, sauces, salads, goes well with fish and meat, wines such as Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Viognier can serve as a natural addition to Comte cheese.
Comte cheese is one of the first to receive the French appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC) quality certificate in 1952.
Striving to taste it? Visit the Pong Cheese website and get it today.
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