Cheesy Christmas 12: Morbier

Todays cheese is known in France as:

“The cheese with the line in it”

Reminder / Disclaimer

Just a reminder that for days 11-16, as I mentioned yesterday, while the posts appear in order on the blog there was actually an interruption for a couple of days. Today’s cheese was tasted on day 16, and I’m posting about it a couple of days after that to get caught up.

Here’s what our little cheese tray looked like on Day 16. We had mandarines to snack on between each cheese as a way of cleansing the palete so that the taste of one cheese didn’t distort the flavour of the next one. Not to mention that it adds a splash of colour.

Day #12: Morbier

Name: Morbier
Apparently this cheese is instantly recognizable to the French thanks to the black line in the middle. The black line is not, in fact, mould like in the blue cheeses, rather it’s a type of edible charcoal. It came to be because long ago, when farmers couldn’t get their cheese curds to dairies due to weather, they’d keep it overnight, sprinkle a fine layer of charcoal over it to protect it from bacteria, then put the curd from the next morning’s milking on top. Hence is born a tradition… out of pure practicality.
Region: The Jura region is a hilly part of eastern France that would be foot-hills to the alps. In this particular area about fifty dairies, ten affineurs and around 2,000 milk producers contribute to making Morbier cheese.
Milk: Raw Cow’s milk
Our Score: 3.3/5
Well… we’re up from yesterday’s 2.9, although it wasn’t exactly a resounding success. Generally speaking the taste was very mild, almost bordering on bland although the texture was nice and creamy (as far as firm cheeses go). Timo didn’t dare try the middle part, thinking it was mould, but overall… it was still an improvement on yesterday.

Cheese quote of the day

“Cheese, like friends, must be old to be good.”

The author is unknown, and it’s not true 100% of the time, as new friendships can sometimes be surprisingly good, but generally speaking, there’s a ring of truth to it.

Happy Cheesy Christmas….
See you tomorrow for cheese #13