09:54h in Poligny: Arrival at the world headquarters of Comté cheese at La Maison du Comté. Upon entering the building, the visitor is subjected to a simulation of sound effects playing overhead (which I guess is intended to simulate being out on the land). More accurately, it sounds as if a cow got lost in the Amazon jungle rather than out on a local farm.
My attention is quickly diverted to a giant wall-sized map of France, which pinpoints the 15 Comté aging facilities in the region (there is a 25 kilometer limit for farms to deliver milk to the dairy for processing into cheese). As alluded to by Taz yesterday, this terroir model is being studied by other food producers around the world, and La Maison is where they come to learn more.
We sit through a kid-friendly five minute video on the origins and history of the cheese (the mascot is exceptionally creepy). We then venture through a quick tour of the museum on to cheese tasting with Claire. As learned yesterday, what the cows eat will affect the flavor of the cheese and even the color of the milk will be affected by different carotene levels depending on season.
My attention is quickly diverted to a giant wall-sized map of France, which pinpoints the 15 Comté aging facilities in the region (there is a 25 kilometer limit for farms to deliver milk to the dairy for processing into cheese). As alluded to by Taz yesterday, this terroir model is being studied by other food producers around the world, and La Maison is where they come to learn more.
We sit through a kid-friendly five minute video on the origins and history of the cheese (the mascot is exceptionally creepy). We then venture through a quick tour of the museum on to cheese tasting with Claire. As learned yesterday, what the cows eat will affect the flavor of the cheese and even the color of the milk will be affected by different carotene levels depending on season.
During the tasting, the selection of five cheeses were aged as young as nine months up to a more premium 24 months. The exercise helped to point out the differences in texture, color, smell, and taste, as some appeared lighter – which, like the milk, all depended on the season and diet of the cow at the time of milking.