Jul 12 2024
The Franche Comté region is one of the most beautiful and naturally charming regions of Eastern France, and is famous for its strong agricultural heritage which has produced some of the most well-known cheeses in France. With a population of around 1.18 million, the Franche Comté region is surprisingly populous despite 44% of the region being covered by dense, green forests. This combines with 5,500km of rivers, 80 lakes and numerous ponds, mountain streams and waterfalls to form a rich and biologically diverse landscape.
Franche Comté left the French administrative region in 2015, becoming known as Bourgogne Franche Comté, which means the ‘Free Country of Burgundy’. Franche Comté officially departed the Burgundy region in the 15th century and is now the sixth biggest region of France, its main cities being Bescancon, Belfort and Montbeliard. Although the region borders Switzerland, there has traditionally been a strong German population, and the area has become a popular skiing attraction, while the many gentle slopes also attract hiking and trail walkers.
In terms of its economy, Franche Comté is known for exporting many different industries, most successfully automobiles. 38% of its agriculture is in dairy farming and it produces and exports around 40 million tonnes of cheese per year from its famous fruitieres. Among these cheeses are the three popularly known as Morbier, Gruyere and Comté, which each showcase the quality and diversity of centuries of cheese making in the Franche Comté region. While these three cheeses are significantly different in taste and appearance, they are all characterised by a heritage of community and solidarity, where farmers joined forces to safeguard their families during harsh winters, and produced cheese locally using each other’s herds.
Morbier is one of the most distinctive French cheeses, characterised by its two separate layers. The first layer was traditionally covered in ash to protect it from insects overnight, while the second was made the next morning from freshly collected milk and pressed on top. The ivory/yellow coloured cheese still has the iconic ash line in the middle and is a smooth and creamy cheese with a strong flavour from a 45-day ripening process. Morbier is ideal on cheeseboards and in salads and gratins.
You shouldn’t confuse Gruyere from the Franche Comté region with the famous Swiss cheese of the same name, although the holes in the cheese confuse this even more. This Gruyere was made by farming families who joined forces in the winter months to feed the community. It involves a two-stage ripening process where the cheese is transferred to a cold cellar when the characterful holes start to appear. It is then fermented under strict control. This PGI-approved and golden-coloured raw cow’s milk cheese is made from five breeds of cow, and is a versatile cheese which is recommended to pair with beer or cider.
Finally, Comté cheese has been made in the region’s famous fruitieres since the Middle Ages. It is a hard cheese with a yellow/brown rind and again is the product of raw milk collected from several local herds as part of a historical cooperative. This PDO cheese has a strong, fruity taste with complex hints of floral flavours, although the more aged wheels have an even stronger and more savoury taste. Comté is very much known as a ‘gourmet’ cheese and also for its versatility, and hence has countless suitable pairings, most notably nuts, honey and chutney.
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