Jun 19 2024
Comté cheese has been described in many ways; fundamentally it is a raw milk cheese, but it is also a gourmet cheese, an Alpine cheese, the most popular raw milk cheese in France and also one of the most-consumed cheeses in France. That is quite an accolade given the wide range of speciality French cheeses available, but as a cheese which dates back to the middle ages, there is something undeniably special about Comté cheese.
The Comté region is in eastern France, bordering Switzerland, and what makes it unique is the co-operative spirit in which it was first made. Farmers understood the power in the collective and joined forces to use milk from each other’s herds. This led to the development of ‘fructuries’, which later became known as ‘fruitières’, which translates to mean ‘where milk is made to grow and multiply’. There are now 160 fruitières in the region making Comté cheese and all to strict AOC specifications, indeed, Comté was one of the first cheeses awarded AOC status, back in 1958, and is today the AOC cheese with the highest production volume, over 66 tonnes annually.
Comté cheese – a member of the Gruyère family - is characterised by its long conservation process, and originally it would feed a whole family for the duration of a long winter. It is aged over a four to 36-month period, and the flavour and depth of the cheese can change quite considerably over this period. A ‘young’ cheese has lactic aromas and a fruity taste, with notes of citrus and dried fruits, while an older cheese has a more complex flavour and introduces hazelnut notes. A fully matured two-year-old cheese is strong and bold with a fully rounded and more savoury flavour.
The maturity of Comté cheese means it is flexible and versatile. It can be paired with nuts, honey and a classic fig chutney, and can form part of a starter, a cheeseboard or used in a gratin. It also forms the basis of many delicious recipes, such as this Tagliatelle with merels and truffles.
Comté is made from the raw milk of the Montbéliarde or Simmental breeds of cows and its distinctive colour and fresh taste is a natural by-product of grazing in the lush fields of the Comté region’s Jara mountains, one of the most accessible mountain regions of France.
The cheese is made in discs which can measure from 40cm to 70cm in diameter, and with a semi-hard texture this is a cheese which can be described as both firm and smooth and has a rind which is mainly brown but can be varied to form a more yellow colour also. And with PDO status firmly secured, this is a raw milk cheese that is unique in every possible way and will stay consistently unique too.
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