Cheesy Christmas 24: Comté

Well… our little Cheesy Christmas adventure is coming to a close today.

It’s our last advent cheese of 2020 and we went out with a bang!

(Wondering ‘Why the daily cheese posts?’…
read this 🙂 )

Somehow I can’t imaging that I’ve not had this cheese before, it’s pretty common, all things considered. That being said, as we sat around our Christmas Eve table, it was not exaggerating to say that it was like a discovery.

Oh. My. Goodness. This was a good cheese.

Like many cheeses, it came out of the need to preserve milk stocks for consumption during the winter months when (a) they couldn’t consume everything during the summer months and (b) cows produced less during the winter.

Fun Facts:

Comté is usually produced in rounds that are 65cm (25″) in diameter, and weigh 40kg (88lbs).
It takes 450 litres (118 gallons) of milk to make one round of Comté
Each milk producer must be able to guarantee 1.3 ha (3 acres) of pasture for each dairy cow.
Comté must age for a minimum of 4 months, but exceptional quality cheeses can be attained by waiting as long as 18-24 months.
For an incredible view of a comté aging chamber, click here.

Let’s get to our experience of it…

Day #24: Comté

Name: Comté
Region: Franche Comté
Although there are a few departments outside of Franche Comté where this cheese can be produced (in Burgundy, Savoie and Haute-Savoie), the traditional production region is here.
Milk: raw Cow milk
Our Score: 5/5
So yes… we ended with a perfect score, and not just because it was the last day either. This really was a very good cheese; hard but highly flavoured. Delish!

Cheese quote of the day

Today, let me finish with not one, but two cheese quotes, the first by Italian journalist and novelist Italo Calvino, and the second by American chef, James Beard.

“Each cheese reveals a pasture of a different green, under a different sky.”
Italo Calvino

“Good cheese needs good companions.”
James Beard

Thanks for following our Cheesy Christmas journey. Over the past 24 days, we have certainly discovered different fields, of different shades of green, under different skies, and without a doubt… the company has been good.

Here’s our takeaway… Next time you go to buy cheese, take a minute, before consuming it, to find out a little bit about it. Who knows, it may just taste a wee bit better and, in a time when travel has been all but completed restricted… it may just allow you a few moments of virtual travel and discovery.