#comte aop

Caramelized Vidalia® Onion and Bacon Quiche

As my last post proclaimed “It’s Vidalia® Onion Season in Georgia. For some trivia about our beloved South Georgia sweeter-than-sweet onions, check out my Vidalia® Onion Soup recipe. Because the season is short and the onions don’t have a long shelf life, I made quiche this week using several onions and pieces of cheese in the fridge (stored in Ovtene Food Bags). You can purchase these…

Utilitarian Kitchen Cheese: Le Gruyere AOP

As early as 1115, Gruyere has been made in certain sections of Switzerland. The inhabitants of the Canton Gruyere were making a full fat cheese and selling it in Switzerland, France and Italy. In the 17th Century, the name of Gruyere was recorded and the process to protect its name and production began. However, it was during the early 19th Century that official steps were taken to protect the…

Comte Folded Tortilla with Cucumber Cream Cheese Spread

Recently, I noticed trending on Instagram, folded tortilla sandwiches. I made a couple for The Man and me. The end result was delicious and I discovered a few “tips” that the various posts did not clarify – you can put too little in them which results in not enough to be satisfying. And the last section should be cheese ( or a “sticky” food) for the final fold to be successful. I had shopped…

The Jura: The Wines, The Food and The People

My summer trip to the Jura, compliments of the Comte Cheese USA Association was a dream come true. I got to hang out with a group of cheese and travel lovers, pet some special cows (the true cheese “makers”), learn from cheesemakers and affineurs and spend at least six hours a day eating and drinking French foods and wines… trust me when I say… it doesn’t get any better than this.

The Jura region…

Comte 2019: Aging Comte AOP and the Art of Affinage

Affinage: the act or process of aging cheese Affinage does for cheeses what great coaching does for athletes. Merriam-Webster online dictionary

Affineur: An affineur is a person who ages (some like to say “matures”) cheese. Many cheesemakers act as their own affineur, overseeing the aging of all their cheeses. Some cheesemakers hand their cheese over to affineurs to ensure that the cheese is aged…

Comte 2019: The Cheesemakers and the Fruitieres

Fruitiere de la Brune Butter from the skimmed cream

Last month on Les Route du Comte we visited two Fruitieres where the milk of the farmer-members is co-mingled and the second magic begins: making Comte AOP Cheese. The two facilities were vastly different. One, Fruitiere de la Brune, is a bare bones operation in a facility built in the 19th Century and in a rural area. Fruitiere de Bonnetage, is…

Comte 2019: The History of Comte AOP and Regulations That Protect This Iconic French Cheese

Comte is an ancient cooked and pressed cheese made from raw milk in the Jura Massif region of France. For more than 1000 years throughout the villages of Eastern France, farmers have been creating a unique and tasty cheese known today as Comte. Today, more than 2500 small, family farms and their cows produce the highest quality milk required to make this cheese loved within France and throughout…

The Question is Not “Why Is Specialty Cheese So Expensive?”; The Question Should Be “Why Doesn’t Specialty Cheese Cost More?”

The easy answer to the first question is “The price is set by what the market will bear.” Today’s consumers are, for the most part, looking for bargains, even with specialty cheese. Cheese is largely handmade from the birth of a new calf, which will someday provide the milk, to the Cheesemonger who will care for it before it finds a home… and everyone who religiously cares for the cheese on its…