Vol 2 No 12

Featured Cheeses

Savored For Over Six Hundred Years

Your Gaperon cheese is handcrafted using ancient methods, and it will taste very similar to the ones enjoyed by the ploughmen and dairymaids of the 14th Century! Gaperon, which is a specialty of the Auvergne country in France, has a white fluffy rind and is shaped like a tiny igloo. The origin of the name 'Gaperon' is taken from the local French dialect for buttermilk which is 'gap' or 'gape.

It was originally made with the "babeurre" which is milk left over from making butter (buttermilk). Fresh milk is added to the cheese curds and then mixed with pepper and a local variety of garlic which is pink. Since buttermilk is used, the resulting cheese is slightly lower in fat, generally 35%.

Over the centuries Gaperons were hung in the farmhouse kitchen or the storeroom, and it was said that the number of cheeses in the kitchen related directly to the farmer's wealth. In fact, a large number of cheeses meant his daughters were more desirable! The cheeses were sometimes tied with yellow ribbons and offered as wedding gifts or harvest symbols, and the decoration is still in use today.

Stored in the farmhouse, the white rind would acquire a mottled color of gray and blue as the spores in the air found their way onto the surface of the cheese. The cheeses are no longer matured in the farmhouse kitchen... usually they sit on rye straw in a damp cellar for one to two months.

Gaperon is best enjoyed with a full-bodied red such as a Côtes du Rhone.

Banned in the USA

Both the French and Swiss have been making Vacherin Mont d'Or since the eighteenth century. Vacherin Mont d'Or is named for a mountain in the Jura which startles the Swiss/French border. Although most of the Mont d'Or region of the Alps lies in France, both countries called their cheese Vacherin Mont d'Or until 1973. Then, to the outrage of the French, the Swiss quietly arranged to commandeer exclusive legal rights to the name. The French responded with incredible restraint, and today French Vacherin Mont d'or is either labeled Le Mont d'or or Vacherin du Haut-Doubs.

In 1983 the Swiss began using pasteurized milk instead of raw milk in an attempt to control Vacherin's somewhat wild nature. Vacherin is a creamy almost runny cheese. As a result, as is occasionally the case with pasteurized milk cheeses, was a serous outbreak of listeriosis... a rare but virulent bacteria. For many years French Vacherin was blamed, but the outbreak was eventually traced back to the Swiss version. Unfortunately the French bore the brunt of this catastrophe, and of course, it had a disastrous effect on the sale of Vacherin. Slowly the truth about whose cheese was to blame became known and sales began to increase. The only country that has not accepted the truth is the USA, where Vacherin is banned.
Apart from it's disquieting recent history, Vacherin ranks as one of the world's most delicious cheeses... aromatic and velvety, the flavor of this cheese is out of this world! Most cheeses accomplish their depth of flavor from rich spring and summer milk, but Vacherin is made from fall and winter milk, from August 15th to March 31st. The cows are confined to their warm cozy barns and fed on cold-weather vegetation, e.g. hay, silage and grains.

But how can I have Vacherin if it is banned from entry to the USA? Well you don't have real Vacherin, you have the next best thing, L'edel de Cleron... although some have claimed this contemporary version to be a "flat-out triumph." L'edel de Cleron is made using a Vacherin recipe, but it is gently pasteurized. Available all year round, this cheese is known as Faux Vacherin. Its creamy, almost runny consistency when it's ripe is identical in texture to the real thing. With its slightly balsamic flavor, it embodies the aura of the pine forests of the Jura mountains (part of the Alps) where it is made.

Historically when milk production declined at the end of the summer season, farmers in the French Alps made smaller cheeses. They called these small cow's milk cheeses vacherins to match the name given to small goat cheeses, chevrotins. The production of the cheese is divided into two phases. The first takes place at the laterie, where the milk is curdled and then called, cailler. Once the milk is curdled, it is placed in approximately 11/2 foot long cylinders which are perforated with holes. The petit lait (whey) is allowed to run off.

Each Edel de Cleron is bound with a thin strip of red pine known as a sangle. The sanglage of the cheese contributes a fine taste of tanin to the finished product. The practice has even given rise to a unique vocation... that of the sangleur who, working in the forests of the Jura, lifts the special strips from felled pines.

In the final phase of production, the cheeses are moved from the laterie to the cave of an affineur (one who is responsible for tending many different cheeses until they are ripe), where they will be aged for a minimum of three weeks before they are ready to eat. Laid out on wooden planks, the cheeses must be turned each day and their surfaces brushed with salt water. Once a month has passed, the affineur cuts-off the overlapping portion of the sangle, where the ends of the wood meet, and makes a small incision backwards into the cheese. This enables the cheese to be pressed neatly into its wooden box and creates an aesthetically pleasing ripple across its golden crust.

The traditional way to eat a ripe Vacherin Montd'Or, or your Edel de Cleron, is to cut off the top rind and eat the runny cheese out of the center. In the Jura, people make a complete meal of it with boiled potatoes and cumin seeds. Sometimes wine is poured over the top, and the box is wrapped in foil and baked for 20 minutes. Serve it with simple crackers and a good fruit bowl, or spread the cheese on toast and melt it in the oven. Riesling is one of the wines that a goes well with your Edel de Cleron.

The Legend Starts And Ends In The Aveyron

The Aveyron is a beautiful region of France known for rugged "Causses"... a vast limestone plateau ringed with cliffs. Once upon a time a young shepherd was guarding his herd of ewes (sheep) near the "Grotte (caves) du Combalou," a large cliff face that dominates the village of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon. He was just about to prepare his midday meal when he saw a young lady in the distance. She appeared to be remarkably beautiful.

Fascinated, he decided to follow her. He left his dog to look after the herd and hid his lunch consisting of bread ("pain de seigle," a bread made from 60/70 percent rye flour and 40/30 percent wheat flour) and cheese in the cool, damp rocks of the "grotte." The chase was on. Sadly, our shepherd never found the young goddess. He returned to his herd, tired and disappointed.

Months later he came upon the lunch that he had hidden. The bread had decomposed and given the cheese streaks of blue veins. He tried the new cheese and found that the taste was remarkable. It did not take long for him to share this mystery with his fellow herdsmen. Within a short time many of the "grottes" had been converted into "cabanes en bois." Oak planks were built in the interior of the grottes where the cheeses were left to ripen. The word "cabanes" is still with us today... the people that work in the cellars are called "cabaniers."

Roquefort cheese was born. This exquisite alchemy is the product of milk, bread, air and time. In the words of Curnonsky, a well known Parisian gastronome, "the Roquefort is the son of the mountains and the wind." Over centuries the center of Roquefort cheese making has always been Roquefort-sur- Soulzon a village perched on the side of cliff of Causse du Larzac, between Millau and Saint-Affrique, some 700 kilometers south of Paris.

Roquefort's name-controlled AOC status is probably the oldest in all of France. The cheese is said to date back to the time of Pliny in ancient Rome. Roquefort is made with pure sheep's milk, which is inoculated with a special type of blue mold (Penicillium roqueforti). Ripening takes a minimum of 3 months and can take place only in the caves of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon in the chalky Combalou mountain. This cheese is made exclusively with raw sheep's milk. The milk must be pure and whole and cannot be homogenized or pasteurized. The area where the sheep's-milk is produced and the ripening cellars are both strictly regulated. The sheep's-milk producing region has progressively extended northwards to the Lot valley and westwards to the Montagne Noire, spilling out of the Grands Causses towards the South and Southeast, into the mountainous regions of Hérault and the foothills of Cévennes.

Cheesemakers first transform the raw milk into a simple cheese with a noble type of mold added to it, the Penicillium roqueforti (mold obtained from bread left to mold in the caves of Combalou mountains). The cheese (called fourme in French) is next taken to Roquefort for ripening. Rising at the foot of a cliff, the village of Roquefort is dominated by a small chalky plateau called the Combalou, the Northeast part of which has partly collapsed over its clayey bed. This geological accident opened a series of caves in the debris. Vertical faults and fissures in these caves provide natural ventilation and are known as fleurines.

Following their preparation in dairy farms, the cheese is salted and then pierced with needles. It is then placed in long rows on top of oak planks lining the natural caves. Thus starts a long maturing and aging process, which takes place under the careful watch of maîtres-affineurs (master maturers). The well-known green-blue marbled appearance of the paste is due to the Penicillium roqueforti, which develops in the cool, damp air swept in through the fleurines..

Next, the cheese is washed and wrapped in tinfoil to slow down the development of the Penicillium. This is when the final ripening stage begins, although it now takes place under different temperature conditions. Good Roquefort requires at least three months of aging. Exports, mainly to the USA and the countries of the Common Market, represent approximately 15% of total production.

Roquefort should always be protected either by its original wrapping or a sheet of aluminum. This will prevent it from drying out and ensure that its deliciously unctuous texture remains well preserved. It is best to place it on the lowest shelf of the refrigerator. It goes without saying that a damp, cool cellar represents an even better solution. Care should be taken to avoid drastic changes in temperature. When destined for a cheese board, Roquefort should be brought to room temperature, at least one hour before being served, just like a good wine. Only at room temperature will it offer the full splendor of its softness, aroma and sophisticated flavor. Recommended wines include Cahors, Fronton, or Madiran.