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Comté is THE cheese of the Jura mountains, the one that everybody likes. After all, comté is the worthy guardian of an ancestral craftsmanship and of a protected production area. This jewel of gastronomy can be found just about everywhere in this mountain range and it is a choice ingredient in recipes from both the local region and faraway places.
The great love affair between the French and their cheese has always existed, here where cheese is an endless source of pride.
It is eaten by the kilo here (26kg per person per year to be precise) and, you've guessed it, comté is among the most popular cheeses of all!
Even foreigners like it, which may be something to do with the fact that it is less "smelly" than the average French cheese, travels well and is easy to cook with!
Now that's where our beloved Jura mountains come into the picture. Because to make a good comté, you need an unspoilt land where Montbéliard cows can peacefully graze to their heart's content.
But there's more to it than that. Comté is also about people and their expertise. For a start, there's the cheesemaker who, at the comté cheese dairy, transforms the collected milk into cheese.
Then the cheese ripener steps in to bring out the best in the cheese in the darkness of a maturing cellar.
But the best way to discover all the secrets and stages of production of this cheese, the leading AOP (PDO) cheese in France, is to follow the Routes du Comté ! This network of itineraries features all the best farms, dairies and maturing cellars open to visitors, and even some "cheesemaking" museums.
A good comté is the fruit of a ripening and maturing process that is a well-kept secret and can last for months (4 to 12 months on average). See behind the scenes of this crucial production stage at Fort des Rousses or Fort Saint Antoine, where you'll learn all you want to know about comté cheese!
Be warned, you'll be visiting an operational production site, so we recommend you book ahead.
The Maison du Comté, the new home of our star cheese, has opened in Poligny to offer you a wonderful immersive experience in the land of Comté which will have the whole family's five senses reeling.
The tour layout features three sections: The Farm & the Milk Producer, The Dairy and the Cheesemaker, and The Cellar and the Cheese Ripener.
Added bonus: Cheese tasting during the tour.
So what are you waiting for? Go visit this iconic site!
Each wheel of comté is marked out of 20, like in an exam. The mark reflects the quality of the product on the basis of a range of criteria, including the taste.
Marked between 12 and 14, the cheese gets a "Brown" rating and the wheel is encircled with a brown ribbon; with a mark of 14 or more, it gets a "Green" rating and a ribbon featuring the green "Comté bell". Below a mark of 12, the cheese fails the test and the wheel is downgraded.
You can buy comté anywhere in the Jura Mountains, be it at a roadside stall, in a village shop or even at a cheese dairy in the middle of nowhere. Hardly surprising, considering that the cheese dairies where comté is made are an integral feature of the landscape.
Many of them sell their own cheese. Another option is to visit one of the shops selling regional specialities. They are everywhere and allow you to fill up not only on cheese but also sausages and even a bottle of wine or absinthe!
We can tell from here your mouth is watering already. And it's no wonder, because comté satisfies every taste! What makes this cheese so special is its huge range of aromas that vary with the duration of its maturing period. Some cheese cellars produce a rich summer comté that has a persistant flavour, while others propose a very milky winter version which smells like a delicious gratin with hints of fresh hazelnut.
Whichever comté you choose, it will go marvelously well with other Franche-Comté specialities such as Vin Jaune (yellow wine), acacia honey, or even as nibbles with a glass of gentiane. Your tastebuds will be delighted by these combinations.
And there's nothing quite like a nice local recipe to prove it!
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