Tag: farmstead

Beaufort from the top of the world
I worked as ‘cheese educator’ on an Alpine Cheese Journey – and this beaufort experience was without doubt one of the highlights.

But before we get to the cheese, the two moments below helped set the scene:

Scene 1:
IN THE LIGHT OF THE MOONLIGHT

The moon shines down from the dark morning sky onto the courtyard in front of our château. I realize that here is a group of people who have defied their body’s need for sleep and set an alarm clock. Why? Because we’re about to experience beaufort coming into the world in an alpine hut in the heights.

Scene 2:
THE JOB OF THE ‘CO(W)-PILOT’

Every time the minivan enters a curve, Anna from Cheese Journeys honks the horn to warn downhill drivers. Meanwhile I keep a close eye on the pictures sent by our scout Teresa Kaufmann in WhatsApp, trying to find them outside the minivan: a wooden sign, a small group of houses, etc.

Asphalt turns into a dirt road and the darkness is suddenly replaced by the sun. We pass the tree line – and finally we arrive at Chalet Bellachat.

Three times Beaufort AOP

Since 1968, beaufort has carried the AOP label, which guarantees its protection of origin. All beaufort cheeses are classified into three qualities depending on the milk and place of production:
- If the cheese is simply called ‘beaufort’, it is made between November and May, when the cows are in the barn down in the valley. At this time of year, they mainly eat hay, which makes this type of beaufort the mildest of the three.
- Beaufort Été means ‘summer beaufort’ and is made with milk from cows grazing outside (typically between June 1 and October 31). This type of beaufort is more yellow and fruity in flavor due to the 130 or so plant species per square meter that the cows munch through in the mountain pastures.
- Beaufort Chalet d’Alpage – or ‘alpine chalet beaufort’ – represents the smallest part of the beaufort cheese wheels. The milk for this comes from cows grazing in the high altitudes, above 1,500 meters (around 5,000 ft). In addition, cheeses must be made twice a day with milk from the farm’s own herd using traditional methods.
It was this last type of cheese, the Alpage variety, which was made at Alpage Bellachat.

Alpage Bellachat

Nathalie and Jean François greet us on this September day, just before the end of the season. Their day also starts early, as the first milking is at 4:15 am (the last at 5:15 pm). The cows recognize voices and come to the mobile milking machine themselves to be milked.

Jean François and his brother took over this alpage (alpine hut) 18 years ago. Their parents had a small farm further down at an altitude of 1300 meters (4,260 ft), below the border of the ‘alpage’ area.

Today, the couple has 90 cows of the breeds Tarine and Abondance, the two breeds of cows that may be used for beaufort cheese.

Two tough mountain ladies

The two permitted breeds are perfect for alpine areas.

One is the tarine (or tarentaise, as it’s also known). It is a hardy caramel-colored cow. The other is the Abondance, known for its mahogany red coat with white markings. Often they have ‘lunettes’ or spectacles, as the color around the eyes is called.

Both cows are also not allowed to produce more than 5,000 liters (1,320 gallons) of milk per year per cow. This is less than most other milking cows.

The drought that Southern Europe has experienced in recent years is also felt at Alpage Bellachat. The lack of precipitation leads to a shortage of grass. Last year they got a dispensation to start feeding hay earlier than usual.

The cows graze in shifts between two areas around the dairy farm. This ensures that the grass comes back. Jean François tells us that you have to maintain the ‘alpage’ by grazing, otherwise the pastures will be taken over by blueberries and other plants.

Inside the dairy

In the small dairy, a large open copper vat greets us. It holds 400 liters (105 gallons) of milk, which makes a 40 kg (88 lb) cheese.

The curdled milk is cut into cheese grains and then stirred to separate more whey. The cheese grains must be quite small in order to become a hard cheese. The vat is heated with gas and the copper conducts the heat around in a balanced way that slowly brings the milk up to 55°C/131°F while stirring. This also helps to get the whey out of the cheese grains.

The cheese maker showed us how to know when the cheese is sufficiently acidified: You can form a small ball of the curd and easily dissolve it back into cheese grains.

When it’s time to get the curd out of the vat, the cheese maker leans over the vat with a net in his hands. Hanging there, he stems his feet against the back wall and in one swift motion, he catches all the cheese curd in his net.

Using a hook, a string and a rail in the ceiling, the curd filled net is transported to a wooden mold, where it is pressed for 24 hours.

The whey is used to make fresh cheese (fromage frais).

Magic in the cheese cellar

A bit down the sloping gravel road is the cheese cellar. Here, the new cheeses are first left with salt on the surface for 24 hours to form a rind. They they spend another 24 hours in a concentrated brine. The cheeses then ripen for about 10 days and are regularly rubbed on the surface. You always start with the oldest cheeses, as this way the good bacteria are spread to the youngest cheeses.

The beauforts are then transported down the valley to an affineur, who further ripens the cheeses under more controlled conditions. To be a genuine beaufort cheese, it must be aged for a minimum of five months in the Beaufort area.

The connection between skiing and cheese

Many cheesemakers in the area double job as ski instructors in the winter while the cows are stabled down in the valley. So does Jean François, who is a cross-country ski instructor in the winter time.

Lunch with a view of Mont Blanc

After the visit to the dairy and cheese cellar, we quickly set up a long table with tablecloths and served our lunch. Jean François brought some beaufort cheeses with different ages to the table.

Beaufort. A view of snow covered Mont Blanc. The soft sound of cowbells in the distance.

It doesn’t get any better than this!
28. May 2023
Top 10 from an alpine cheese journey

Recently, I read a quote which made so much sense to me:

Choose to work with what you love,
and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.

Especially it made sense when I traveled as ‘cheese educator’ with Cheese Journeys to the French and Swiss Alps. Of course, the days were long and the nights a bit short at times, but what really mattered were all the stunning cheese experiences we had throughout our journey.

What is Cheese Journeys?

Behind the name you find American Anna Juhl. She worked many years as a nurse. One day, her life took a turn when she ‘coincidentally’ bought a cheese shop. It became the starting point for the whole family’s passion for cheese and the people making it.

Today, she organizes cheese tours for Americans and others who want to have unique and ‘behind-the-scenes’ experiences close to the producers of some of Europe’s best, artisanal cheeses.

It is rather difficult to condense 12 days of tightly packed program in a few words. That’s why you will get my Top 10 experiences. The order is not prioritized, but still my personal favourites come at the end ☺

Top 10: Savoie wine and terroir

Nursery for vines

Savoie is not particularly known for its wines, and vineyards isn’t the most common sight in this mountainous region. Typically, the rows of vines climb up the foothills of a mountain. The old glacial soil is an important part of the terroir of the wines in this area.

We visited Maison Philippe Grissard, which has been making wine for three generations and, not least, helped to give new life to rare or almost extinct vines, not just in Savoie but also throughout France and the rest of the world.

At the lake

We also visited the winery Xavier Jacqueline, where a father and two daughters grow organic and biodynamic grapes on six hectares of land spread over several areas, one in the middle of the city of Aix les Bains. In the microclimate around Lac du Bourget, the temperature never drops below the freezing point.

The family business started from scratch 35 years ago by planting vines. Today, they produce their wine in a wine cellar from 1895.

Top 9: Wine and cheese tasting in the cellar of our château

On the welcome evening, we transformed the dark cellar into a cozy French bistro, where we held the first cheese tasting of the trip. It was a welcome to the Savoie region, where we greeted the local cheeses. We got to know several of them better later in the week visiting cows and dairies. I introduced the cheeses together with Anne Laure from Savoie Touch Wine, who was responsible for the evening’s wines.

On the plate (starting ‘at 12′): Sainte Maure de Tourraine (the only non-local cheese), Persillé de Tigne, Reblochon in two ages, Tommette de Chèvre, Tome des Bauges, Beaufort and Bleu du Val d’ Aillon.

Top 8: Cow bell producer

Cowbells are closely linked with the Alps, the Jura Mountains and the other mountain regions. Because if you can’t hear the bells, how will you find your cows? We visited the Fonderie Charles Obertin – a forge that has cast bronze bells since 1834. In the shop next door they sell bells. Small bells, big bells. Old bells, new bells. For cows, for the door, for the dog, for decorations, for the key ring. Here is everything the heart desires – when it comes to bells.

Top 7: Absinthe distillery

Absinthe and other liqueurs are produced in old copper kettles and fine wooden barrels at a small distillery in Pontarlier. The green drink, which is still shrouded in mystery today, is among other ingredients made of the absinthe plant growing nearby. The aromatic plant has been used as medicine throughout the ages. In the 19th century, absinthe was a popular drink with high percentages, but ‘The Green Fairy’ also gained a reputation for leading to madness and what was worse. In 1914, the drink was banned.

In 2001, absinthe was recreated, and with a lower alcohol percentage and now legalized, you can once again buy and enjoy the green drink, which also contains green anise seeds.

Top 6: Melted cheese

It is impossible not to come across melted cheese when you are in the Alps and the Jura mountains. And it comes in many forms, generous portions and always made with local cheeses. Fondue, raclette, tartiflette, reblochonnade (raclette made from reblochon), mont d’or, manigodine (cheese with spruce belt) – there are many variations, and we tasted them all.

Top 5: Visting an affineur

Making cheese is one thing. Maturing the cheese is something else. In the Alps and the Jura mountains, cheese production takes place for a large part of the year up in the heights, and the small dairies typically produce only a few cheeses per day. In return, they entrust the further fate of the cheeses to the hands of the knowledgeable affineurs.

The affineur’s work is also a craft. Each cheese is cared for and given the optimal conditions to bring out the best taste, texture and personality.

At Paccard in the Jura Mountains, we experienced the ripening cellar, where they refine local cheeses such as reblochon, abondance, tommes and raclette.

Top 4: Coziness at our château

The setting of a cheese journey is always unique. The Alps are no exception. The first part of the trip was based at our own château.

Le Château St. Philippe was originally built as a monastery in 1032. It was literally located in the middle of a Roman road and therefore tolls could be collected from people passing by. A spring runs on/under the property and at one point powered a small mill. As in other places, the monks of the Middle Ages helped to develop local agriculture and foods, and who knows?! Perhaps cheeses were once produced at the château.

The breath of history

In recent decades, the current owners have carefully restored the château. As I walked down the long corridor, up the narrow staircase or around the chilly cellar, I wished the walls could tell what they have seen. For example, when the castle was accommodation for German troops during the Second World War.

We enjoyed the château as the beautiful setting for our workshops. Our two chefs taught chocolate tempering. My workshops were about food photography and the art of building a cheese board.

Top 3: Visit to dairy and affineur

The Jura mountains are home to the comté cheese, which is the most consumed AOP cheese in France. 1.7 million cheese wheels are produced each year in small dairies in the designated area. The dairies (small and larger) send their cheeses to an affineur, who refines the products to perfection.

We visited both a dairy and an affineur who matured comté wheels in the cellar of an old military fort. It was such a special experience which you can read about in details right here.

Top 2: Beaufort – at the top of the world

The alpine cheese Beaufort comes in various ‘qualities’ depending on which milk is used. When the cheese is produced way up in the Alps during high summer, the cheese is called ‘beaufort châlet d’alpage’.

We visited the married couple Nathalie and Jean François at the end of a dirt road high up in the mountains. Here we experienced cheese making in open copper vats, had lunch at a long table with a view of snow-capped Mont Blanc, while the cowbells tinkled softly in the distance.

This experience, too, was so special that I had to dedicate a separate blog post to it. I hope you will enjoy it.

Top 1: Cow parade

The highlight of the trip was perhaps the long-awaited cow parade. Because when the cows are taken down from the heights in early autumn, it turns into a festive event. Dressed in handsome hats and beautiful flowers, the cows are accompanied by nicely dressed people from the farm to the town. We crossed the border into Switzerland and were with them all the way. We decorated the cows, we followed them on the road, and we watched them arrive in the small town, which this day had been transformed into a giant cheese party.

Read more here – and see more dressed up ladies.

Want to read about other Cheese Journeys experiences?

I have also blogged about a trip to Holland and England.

PS. Yes, it’s me with the baguettes (together with Jilly and Anna)

21. December 2022
Bright and shiny stars on the British cheese sky

One of the highlights of my trip to England with Cheese Journeys was an evening we shared with no less than England’s rockstar cheesemakers when it comes to artisan cheeses. Among them, so much cheese knowledge, experience and storytelling was accumulated. They each shared their own unique story, which together tell the story of English cheese traditions and renaissance.

Here you will find some examples of the cheesemakers’ own stories. (All photos of the cheesemakers are taken by talented Winter Caplanson, while the cheese photos are my own).

Ticklemore – a delicate goat cheese

Greg Parsons owns Sharpham Dairy, which makes cheeses from cow, sheep and goat milk. The dairy is located in Devon.

On the cheese night, Greg brought Ticklemore, a fine semi-solid goat cheese made from pasteurized milk from three local farms and with a thin and soft layer of white mold. With flavor notes of citrus and hay, it is a fine and mild goat cheese.

Baron Bigod – UK’s answer to Brie de Meaux

Jonny Crickmore is third generation on Fen Farm, a family farm he runs with his wife, Dulcie.

Raw milk is close to their hearts, and when they went into cheese production in 2012, it was to make their own version of the French Brie de Meaux. In close collaboration with Neils Yard Dairy and a French cheese consultant, they replaced their Holstein-Frisian dairy cows with French Montbelliard cows, which Jonny hand-picked out of small herds in the Jura Mountains. Much is done by hand, for example are cheese curds hand ladled into forms.

Baron Bigod is a wild and creamy experience with a taste of butter, mushrooms and hay, and with a touch of barn in the beautiful way.

Tunworth – this is how camembert tastes in England

Stacey Hedges is originally from Australia. At the age of 40, she found herself in a midlife crisis. With three children in the house and goats in the garden, she found happiness in making cheese.

She kept making cheese, and with Neils Yard Dairy having her back, she replaced the kitchen table with a small dairy. This was the beginning of the Hampshire Cheese Company. Today, she and her partner buy cow’s milk from a local farmer, with whom they work closely. The cows are a mixture of montbeliarde, red Swedish dairy cow and holstein-friesian.

Tunworth is an English handmade version of the French camembert. The milk is pasteurized, but not skimmed as it’s the case with a French camembert. The taste is rich and creamy, buttery with notes of hay and meat / umami.

Each cloth bound Cheshire encapsulates a moment in time – the soil, the traditional grass pastures, the gentle cows, the weather, the season.
Appleby’s Dairy

Caerphilly – as Chris Duckett made it

Originally, caerphilly is a Welsh cheese which the miners took with them in the lunch pack down in the dark. Somerset producers adopted the cheese in the late 1800s, when demand exceeded supply and it became a faster way to generate liquidity than long-aged cheddar cheeses.

In 1950, there was only one farmhouse producer left: Chris Duckett. He made raw milk caerphilly with natural rind. When he became ill in the late 1990s, Westcombe Dairy took over his production including the 20-year-old brine with all its unique microbiological flora. Even the cheese notes of Chris Duckett’s mother came to Westcombe where they since have worked on taking the cheese even further back to what it originally was.

Westcombe Dairy has been making cheese since 1879. It is an innovative dairy run by father and son. Primarily they produce traditional farmhouse cheddar.

Duckett’s Caerphilly has a fresh, clean and acidic taste with citrus, umami and mushrooms. Notice the color difference between the cheese just beneath the rind and in the middle – it also varies in taste.

Applesby’s Cheshire – last farmhouse producer of cheshire

Since 1952, the Appleby family has been producing cheshire on their family farm, which today is run by third generation: Paul and his wife Sarah and their five children. Paul’s grandmother came from a family where women made cheese, and she brought that skill into her marriage. The couple established a small dairy in the stable. In this same place and with grandma’s equipment (and with the same passion and stubborness as she had), England’s last farmhouse cheshire is still very much alive. (Once cheshire was a cheese used to feed the whole nation.)

Appleby’s chesire is clothbound and made from unpasteurized milk from their own cows. The nice, bright orange cheese is a bit acidic and has a slightly crumbly texture. It has a lot of minerality and a notes of grass and sweet cow breath.

Sparkenhoe Red Leicester – the resurrection of an extinct cheese

Jo and David Clark run their family farm Sparkenhoe Farm with dairy cows, which they once inherited from the family. In 2005, they went into cheese as there was not much economy in selling milk. The couple considered for a long time what type of cheese they should start with, and it was a friend at the pub who brought Red Leicester into their attention. Originally, it was a regional cheese which stilton producers would make from surplus milk. But after World War II, the cheese disappeared in its traditional raw milk version, and was only found in the industrial version with pasteurized milk. Jo and David brought the cheese back in collaboration with Neils Yard Dairy.

The milk from the 150 dairy cows is pumped directly from the barn to the dairy. They produce almost all the feed for the cows at the farm or get it from a brother’s nearby farm. The cheese is clothbound and greased with lard for protection during maturation.

Sparkenhoe Red Leicester is slightly flaky, tastes of butter, nuts, forest floor and has a touch of citrus. A nice, decorative cheese that gets its color from the natural dye annatto.

Berkswell – a UFO-like sheep’s milk cheese

At Ram Hall, the Fletcher family has been farming since 1881. Today, the farm is run by Stephen (5th generation) along with his father Peter and son George. In 1989, the first sheep’s milk cheeses were made from the milk of 40 newly acquired sheep. Stephen’s mother had been on a cheese course, and here she learned to drain the curd in a kitchen sieve. They still do this, and since the cheese is only pressed by its own weight, it takes its form from the sieve, and therefore has a shape of a UFO. The sheep milk’s cheese was very well received and in 1995, the family sold the last cows in order to focus on sheep.

Today they milk 750 sheep, and all fodder is grown on the farm’s fields. The cheeses are hand made. For instance, the cheese curd is cut by hand, and is thereafter stirred for 40 minutes – still by hand!

Berkswell has a sweet sheep’s milk taste that also tastes a bit of herbs. Although the young cheese is actually quite tender, it bites a bit. When the cheese is aged, it becomes firmer and has a more rebellious taste that can really kick off. Beautiful multicolored dots form over time on the surface. The cheese can also be grated over food.

Montgomery Cheddar – genuine farmhouse cheddar

In 1911, Jamie Montgomery’s grandfather bought the North Cadbury Court country house with its surrounding fields. He made cheddar, as one did in the flat and lush Somerset. When all the other producers made large blocks, he stubbornly stuck to the old traditions of clothbound rawmilk cheddar. Jamie moved with his family to North Cadbury Court in 1963, and is today third generation of Montgomery Cheddar. The dairy is now known as one of the top producers of farmhouse cheddar.

We tasted cheddar that had been aged for one and two years. A deep taste of umami, soil and broth hides in these beautiful and elegant cheeses that are also creamy (one year) and have soft crystals (two years).

Stichelton – this is how stilton was born

Joe Schneider is actually from New York, but he has replaced the Big Apple with the country life in Nottinghamshire. Together with the founder of Neils Yard Dairy, Randolph Hodgson, he set out to revive a cheese that had been missing for 18 years, namely the raw milk version of stilton. And pretty much everything is as it was before: The area is the same, the unpasteurized milk comes from the farm’s own cows, the cultures are the same as the last stilton producer used before switching to pasteurized milk in 1989. And cheese curds are hand ladled into their molds.

The result is an interesting blue cheese with a slightly orange rind covering the light yellow cheese with its blue veins. Right under the rind, the cheese is completely creamy. It has a complex slightly acidic taste which varies throughout the year.

The cheese was not allowed to be called stilton, as it does not live up to the PDO requirements of stilton today – here the milk must be pasteurized. Instead, the cheese is called Stichelton, which is the old name for the village of Stilton.

A cheese painting course was part of the Cheese Journeys programme. Do you recognize the cheese I painted? It’s Appleby’s Cheshire!

20. May 2022
Montgomery Cheddar – the story about a Cheddar family

Cheddar has something in common with cheeses such as gouda and brie: On one hand, it can be traced back to its origins long ago. On the other hand, it was never origin protected (like for instance morbier or stilton are), and therefore the cheese is produced all over the world and in many different kinds of qualities.

Take a look at these four and very different cheddars:

All these cheddars are from the UK.

To the left, we have a red cheddar, produced in blocks at a large dairy. It is matured three months, and is best used in the kitchen. Number two is a vintage cheddar, aged for about 18 months, also from a large dairy. The taste is caramel-sweet with crunchy crystals. Number three is a traditional cloth bound raw milk cheddar from Montgomery Cheese (aged for one year). The last one is from the same place but is aged for two years. The last two have deep umami notes and are closer to forest floor, mushrooms and cabbage.

Cheddar roots in Somerset

On the soft rolling hills grows lush green grass. We are in Somerset in the south-west of England. Perfect conditions for cows – and the home land of cheddar. Historical sources back to 1170 talk about a cheese made in the village of Cheddar. Originally, the cheese was made in the summer from the cows’ abundant milk, and in the winter, the cheese was eaten. In other words, cheddar was stored for a maximum of six months.

The Montgomery family

In 1911, Sir Archibald Langman purchased the North Cadbury Court mansion and the surrounding lands. The house has 100% ‘Downtown Abbey´ spirit, and you can see pictures from it in my diary from the cheddar odyssey with Cheese Journeys. Sir Archibald produced cheddar from unpasteurized milk from own cows.

History wasn’t gentle to farm dairies in the UK. 3,500 farm dairies in 1914 became less than 100 in 1945. Fortunately, there has been a renaissance since then.

Some cheesemakers stubbornly stuck to making cheese in the traditional way. Montgomery cheddar is one of them. Today, grandson Jamie Montgomery heads the family business, whose cheddar has been said to be one of the world’s best cheddars! In other words, the family stubborness came with a result!

Jamie Montgomery

Traditional farmhouse cheddar

Montgomery cheddar is made from unpasteurized milk, which gives an interesting complexity with more than just one taste sensation. Also, it varies over time – because the cheese follows the milk. All cheeses are wrapped in cheese cloth and covered with lard to protect the cheeses during maturation.

200 Holstein-Frisian dairy cows graze outside for as long as possible, approx. 8-9 months a year. The autumn of 2021 was very mild and the cows were not taken in for the winter until end of November.

Let’s follow Jamie Montgomery into the dairy…

The crucial starter culture

When you make cheese, you add starter culture (also called lactic acid bacteria) to the milk, and these bacteria help to start the acidification and not least also adds to the cheese personality.

Some dairies buy cultures, others use a little whey from yesterday’s production or yet others sour some milk with purchased bacteria and add this ‘yoghurt’ to the liquid milk. The latter is done at Montgomery’s Cheese.

There is a special story attached to the cultures they use in the dairy today. In the past, it was local practice to exchange the best cultures with other farm dairies. This was done to protect the bacteria’s strength. If the same bacteria was used day after day, it would lose strength and gradually be taken over by a virus which is found naturally everywhere. But by constantly bringing new strong bacteria into the dairy, this was avoided.

Milk is fermented overnight and kickstarts the cheese process the following day.

The last tiger

In the 1950s, a company collected these bacteria strains from various dairies to cultivate them for sale. After some company acquisitions, the project was closed down, but an employee wasn’t happy with this and simply ran away with the invaluable bacteria bank of generations’ work. Actually, it was a bit like holding the very last tiger in your hand. Fortunately, Barbers took on the task, securing this goldmine of cheese cultures and heritage.

Today, Montgomery uses a different starter culture on each of the days of the week, and the cheeses are known among connoisseurs as ‘Monday’, etc.

’The cheddaring process’

Once the cheese curds are cut and stirred, whey and curd is pumped onto a flat cooling table. Whey runs off, and quite quickly the cheese curds binds together in a cohesive mass. It is then cut into large blocks which are turned over and stacked on top of each other. This very special fermentation process, which differs from (most of) the rest of Europe’s cheese production, is called cheddaring.

The process is repeated after 4-5 minutes, and each time the stack of cheese blocks gets higher, while each cheese block is pressed a little flatter by the weight, and a little more whey is squeezed out.

When the acidfication is perfect (this happens after about 4½ hours), the cheese blocks must go through a small grinder that mills the blocks. Then it’s time to knead salt into the cheese grains. Salt stops the acidification.

The curd is then put into molds and pressed. Afterwards, the cheeses are wrapped in cheese cloth and covered with lard. It is done to protect the cheeses against cracks and damages during the long maturation.

Flavor evolves over time

Montgomery’s cheddar ripens for 1 or 2 years. The cheeses have a delicious earthy flavor with notes of mushrooms and broth. They are acidic, like most other English cheeses, and especially the one year old cheddar becomes creamy when chewed. There is a difference in taste whether you eat the heart of the cheese or the layer just below the rind, where the taste is most intense.

29. January 2022
Urban dairies in Paris

GUIDE TO CHEESE IN PARIS

Normally, dairies are quite close to the source of milk, and this is most often in the countryside. I have just been to France (Normandy and Pays de la Loire) and therefore I do know how many miles or kilometers you sometimes have to drive to reach the dairies…

But in recent years, small dairies are popping up in Paris. In the middle of the big city and far away from the milk animals. These urban dairies are an attraction per se and consumers as well as local restaurants happily buy their products.

Use the addresses below and go see for yourself next time in Paris.

Stop #1: Laiterie de Paris

In the neighborhood of La Goutte d’Or (close to Montmartre in the 18th arrondissement) you find the first Parisian dairy. Run by the young Frenchman Pierre Coulon. He used to work in the legendary cheese store Maison Androut as well as being a cheese maker on his own farm with goats and sheep in West France.

Now he is back in Paris and since the end of 2017 he has made yoghurt, butter and cheese (mainly fresh cheese) of organic cow, goat and sheep milk from Bretagne and the Seine Maritime region. Besides his own cheeses, the shop carries an assortment of other delicous cheeses as well as beer, wine, jam and honey to accompany the cheeses.

Visit Laiterie de Paris:

74 Rue des Poissonniers
75018 Paris
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Stop #2: Laiterie La Chapelle

Not so far away you find another small dairy with a slightly different philosophy. Paul Zindy recieves milk four times a week from farms just outside Paris (and therefore his cheeses are made of cow milk). His focus is local which you can also see in the name of the cheeses. For instance Dormoy which is the name of a nearby metro station. His raw milk cheeses mature on wooden planks and can be seen from the street as well as from the inside of the shop.

Workshop: Make your own tommette

Laiterie La Chapelle now invites you to join them in the dairy, put on your apron and learn to make your own cheese. In small groups (3-5 persons) you will make a tommette (small hard cheese). After three months of maturation, you can pick up your cheese and taste the result. Read more and book here (in French).

Visit Laiterie la Chapelle

72 Rue Philippe de Girard
75018 Paris
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Stop #3: Nanina – raw milk bufala mozzarella

When I researched for this blog post, I came across this urban dairy in the 11th arrondissement. They make mozzarella from raw bufala milk from Auvergne. Nanina is the name, and it is on my to-do list for the next trip to Paris.

Visit Nanina

24 Rue Basfroi
75011 Paris
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Stop #4: Ottanta – organic mozzarella, burrata and more

Another name on my bucket list for Paris is Ottanta where they make organic fresh cheese such as mozzarella, burrata, ricotta as well as stracciatella (and fresh pasta). They also make mozzarella and burrata workshops (organized by Yeswegreen).

Visit Ottanta

19, rue du Cardinal Lemoine
75005 Paris
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3. July 2019
Goat cheese and holistic grazing

‘Knark, knark, knark’. If you listen carefully, this is the sound of dandelions having their heads chopped off by eager goats.

A fresh piece of land has just been released for the goats. For the last eight weeks the land has rested giving way to new vegetation. This rotation of grassland is also called holistic grazing.

One Sunday morning, I visited Copenhagen Goat Milk, one of the newest farmstead dairies in Denmark.

‘My goats and holistic grazing are two of my favourite subjects,’ says Claus Christoffersen.

In 2017, Claus and Summer bought a house in the countryside with 13 ha / 32 ac. This is also the home for their two children who now are seven and fifteen. This morning we are sitting in the courtyard with the most beautiful and deliciously arranged cheese board with bread. For a moment I feel time has paused. Pure idyll!

Hard work

But it’s also pretty obvious that the dream about goats and dairy doesn’t come easy. Claus used to work as an accountant and this has taught him to gather and process information. Indeed the ability to acquire new material has proven vital when you decide to make cheese. With a background in the military and from elite cycling he knows how to opmitise things. As well as – at least this is what I believe – how to set a goal and fight to obtain it.

No doubt, it’s hard work to keep track of 130 goats, 100 hens, a dairy and recently also a farm outlet. And yet, a day still counts 24 hours.

Goats are cultural heritage

You need to start from the beginning, also when you want to create your own flock of goats. The breed is Danish landrace (‘dansk landrace’) which is currently on the UN list of endangered animal species. Right now there are 3-400 goats in Denmark. In the beginning, Claus and Summer bought a few goats here and another few goats there and now they have started to breed on their own animals. Right now they have four male goats, 48 milking goats and 78 baby goats.

This type of goat fits to the Danish climate, they loose their wool in the summer and can handle winter and snow with their winter fur. At Copenhagen Goat Milk, they goats decide themselves whether they want to be in or out. The less stress, the better milk quality.

Baby goats and their mothers

It’s quite rare these days that you see a dairy cow/sheep/goat together with their kids. But here they spend the day together and the nights apart. After the morning milking, they graze together again. The goats give of course less milk but this is how they have decided to do it until the kids are three-four months old.

Before every goat had its own name but this year there are too many…

What is holistic grazing?

When we talk about grazing, it is obvious that Claus has more at heart. He uses the tecnique called holistic grazing which means that you continously change the grazing area leaving some parts to rest.

The goats are only allowed to a new area after six to eight weeks of rest. This allows topsoil to come which again holds on the water. Roots get longer and new leaves grow. Actually, more CO2 is contained. The goats get a new fresh area every day which means more milk and higher quality.

Claus moves the poles a bit every day and invites the goats to fresh grass and dandelions. In return, the goats munch in concentrated silence.

Dandelion improves digestion, Claus tells. He likes diversity in the weeds on the fields.

Grass and ruminants is a match made in heaven!

Claus Christoffersen

Weeds, grass and branches is a treat for goats.

Habits and character

Goats are curious and fun animals. They watch us closely until one is brave enough to come over to pinch my hand and clothes.

Claus explains that they go the same place every time they are about to be milked which is every morning.

Swallows fly around inside the stable. They eat flies and thus help Claus to avoid insecticides.

This is not so easy. Finally, milk comes out, even though it points in all directions.

How to learn to make cheese

The original entrance of the house and a bedroom is now turned into a small dairy.

Summer was born in Thailand and nobody would have thought her future career was to be a cheese master. Nonetheless, here she is: Making cheeses and yoghurt in her own farmstead dairy. She learned by reading, talking to others and above all watching Youtube videos.

Gently she pours the curd into the moulds.

To test, observe and learn. Summer has now acheived her own expression.

The cheeses

Look at this amazingly beatiful cheese board:

Small round snack cheeses in oil and herbs are in the bowl. Followed by beautiful fresh cheeses decorated with thyme/chives/lavender & dandelion. Behind a moulded chèvre with two different ages.

Would you like to taste?

Right now you have to be in Denmark to taste the cheeses. Visit the farm outlet (find the address and opening hours on facebook. You may also find their cheeses at local markets and restaurants. At the farm, apart from cheese you can buy icecream and soap.

Dairy to the left and outlet to the right.

On their list of future projects they have organic and raw milk cheeses and I can’t wait to follow them along their future road. Good luck!!!

28. June 2019
The cheese from the island

Top 1 from a Dutch cheese journey

The boat trip from the mainland to the island is fast. Just a few minutes. You can easily see across the water. And yet it feels like another world coming to the island.

A sign on the house welcomes us: De Eenzaamheid means Loneliness. We have arrived at the house and farm dairy of Jan and Roos van Schie. The island is in a lake in the Zwanburger Polder, south west of Amsterdam. It covers 1 square km / 247 acres and their neighbors are a farmer and a windmill. We are 60 cm / nearly 2 ft below sea level. The old sea bed contains sea clay which makes the milk special.

Organic and raw milk

Jan and Roos took over the farm in 1984 and are the fifth generation of farmers. Today, they have 42 cows and make 7 cheeses a day in the small dairy. The cheeses are organic raw milk cheeses under the brand Wilde Weide (which means Wild Meadow). They share the brand with another local farmstead dairy.

You can buy Wilde Weide in Holland but also in the US and at Borough Market in London.

‘Boerenkass’ versus ‘kaas van Boeren’

Wilde Weide is a ‘boerenkaas’ which translates to ‘farmhouse cheese’. This refers to a raw milk cheese produced on the farm and which is heated to no more than 35°C / 95°F. When you talk about ‘kaas van Boeren’ or ‘kaas van de boerderij’ (cheese from the farm), you talk about a cheese made with pasteurized or thermized milk.

Let’s take a look at the dairy!

Making cheese is know how. How the curd feels and looks… it takes experience.

Jan captures the curd with the metal band and presses it slightly together

After a few moments, the curds have become cheeses and can be flipped.

Each cheese (around 13,5 kg) are being transfered to the press.

Jan adjusts the press and more whey leaves the cheeses.

Kaas is cheese, and in the cellar the cheeses go into a brine first. Thereafter they mature for around two weeks before they are being aged further by a third party, for instace Fromagerie L’Amuse.

A break with coffee, farm milk and the Dutch stroopwafel…

Enjoyed cheese for lunch – as well as the view towards the mainland which seems far away from the island life.

This was my last story (for the moment) from an unforgettable cheese journey to the Netherlands.

More cheese journey?

You can read the other parts of my story here:
Beemster (a cheese area and cheese brand)
A morning at Alkmaar cheese market
Remeker – a farmstead dairy with a different mindset than most others
Additional top 10 moments from the trip

And you can read more about Cheese Journeys who planned this trip.

Would you like to receive more cheese stories in your mailbox? Sign up for inspirational mails right here (and get a link to download a guide to the best cheese board)

29. May 2019
From soil to cheese

Top 2 from a Dutch cheese journey

He drops down unto his knees and studies the fresh cow manure on the field. It has the right smell, fIies have already found it, and that’s a good sign. It is one of indicators of how the cow is doing. Jan Dirk van de Voort is a farmer and cheesemaker of Remeker cheese and he sees the world in quite a different light than most of his colleagues.

Fresh manure with flies = healthy cow

Manure after 2½ weeks = dung beetles and birds have almost done their job

In accordance with nature

Jan Dirk comes from a farmer’s family and their story is linked to the farm De Groote Vort for many generations. Despite family tradition, he has gone his own ways. Well, his father did too, he was the first in the Netherlands to start with jersey cows. They were actually the first in Europe to make gouda with jersey milk.

The biggest change

Jan Dirk turned the farm organic 30 years ago but the gamechanger came 15 years ago when they said goodbye to antibiotics, vitamins, insecticides, pesticides etc. From that moment he relied on nature and sustainability. It has become a combination of philosophy and earning model at the same time.

The horns

An example of his way has do with horns. It is common that you dehorn the cows in order to prevent them to harm each other and to minimize the need for space. Jan Dirk explains that the horns is a mineral depot which are used for the calves. If you take away the horns, the minerals for the calves come out of the hoofs and thereby creating hoof issues which need treatment.

In order to avoid aggressions among the cows, the stable has no corners. where the cows normally could take out their aggressions.

The 85 cows eat fresh grass when it’s possible and that’s most of the year. When they can’t have fresh grass, they are fed with things such as hay, grass sileage and pressed herbs.

Drink coffee and let the worms work

The farm generates six incomes but has many more employees if you count the worms. They do an important job. Jan Dirk tells us about a research project they run with the university right now. The worms count the Dutch local worms but also imported long Canadian worms. It takes around 30 years to take the fields back to a stage where no ploughing and working the soil is needed (and he can drink coffee in stead). Where the soil is in balance when it comes to water, calcium and other minerals.

The compactness of these two soil lumps will dissappear within a few more years when the worms have done more work.

Connection between soil and cheese

When it comes to the Remeker cheese, the method is also in line with old traditions and nature. Milk is only heated to the natural temperature of the cow which means all important micro organisms are kept alive.

In the maturing cellar, beautiful cheeses with natural rind marked Remeker lie on wooden planks and are turned now and then.

But new ideas can come along. All cheeses are for instance covered with homemade ghee (clarified butter). This gives extra taste from the outside inwards.

Remeker is an old name of one of the fields. It goes back to the 17th century and comes from two old Dutch names: Reem (surrounded by) and eker (oak).

The cheeses are really good. Going from young (3 months) with buttery, creamy flavor which melts on the tongue to 1½ years with grainy texture and crunchy crystals.

22. May 2019
Spanish goat cheese with pepper

Or: There is always a cheese moment around the corner.

My husband and I were on a short getaway in Andalusia (south of Spain). We were driving around in the mountains when he suddenly stopped the car and pointed at a sign. It was a little rusty but the words were clear: Four kilometers (2.5 miles) away was the farm dairy Cortijo Júrtiga. Of course we had to check it out and turned onto a dirt road.

Cool mountain air and silence met us when we stopped. A dog was barking somewhere and a motor was running. We saw several buildings and found the door to the cheese shop.

Welcome

Julia opened the door. She invited us into the small shop and told us about the family farm where they make goat cheese of unpasteurized milk from their own goats. They produce the Spanish fresh cheese requesón (ricotta style) as well as small round cheeses matured for 60 days. The cheeses mature as they are or with black pepper, paprika, thyme, rosemary or in olive oil.

While we tasted, she explained that the farm had been in the family for many years and they had always had a few goats and produced cheese for their own consumption. Six or seven years ago they started to make cheese to sell and it has grown year by year. She is the one who converts milk to cheese every day at 7 am in the small dairy.

Goat cycle

Today the family owns 1400 goats of the local breed Granadino-Murciano, renowned for its milk. They give 1½-2 liters milk pr milking (0.4-0.5 gallons) for 5-6 months a year (in total 500-600 liter per year or 130-160 gallons). In order to have milk all year round they make sure the cycles are parallel.

Every single day two shepherds take the goats out to feed in the area among oaks and olive trees. In the late afternoon they head home for the second milking. The cheeses don’t have an organic label but they might as well…

Notice that the goats have eaten all they have within their reach

Grass turns to hay and is given to the goats. Everything is made by the family.

Cheese and pepper

Of course we bought several cheeses. The combination of the fresh acidic goat cheese and warm pepper is quite interesting.

Do you want to see the farm dairy?

If you are in Andalusia you can find your way to the small diary. Check out how right here.

You can also read more about the dairy here.

5. April 2019
Bleu de Termignon – a rare piece of nature
Coming back from our ski vacation last week we had a stopover in Oslo, Norway. We paid a visit to Mathallen, a gastronomic arena with a fine collection of delicatessen shops, places to eat and a vast program of cooking schools and other events.

Of course, cheese was represented. Galopin is a cheese shop specializing in French cheeses and their shop was full of interesting artisan (fermier) cheeses.

Just a bit of blue

Among the many fantastic and colourful cheeses, especially one called out. It looked a bit shy with its random small bits of blue veins. But when we tasted it, we were blown away. The name is Bleu de Termignon!

A raw blue mould cheese from the Eastern part of the French Alps, close to the Italian border. Only few cheese makers produce it, and only between June and September where the cows are grazing high up in the Alps (more than 6500 ft of altitude) and thereby the cheese is made with ‘alpage milk’.

Taste explosion

The taste had a bit of acidity and bitterness and lots of animality. A hint of sharpness and an large aftertaste. It is not a cheese for beginners 🙂 It produced a small prickle on the tongue which is typical for raw milk cheeses.

The curds

The texture was crumbly and creamy at the same time. If you take a close look, you can almost see small lumps of curds – and the process is also different from many other cheeses. Some of the fresh curds are mixed with older curds, and some are left in brine one or two days until they will be mixed with new fresh curds. The curd blocks are being minced which aerates the curds before they are mixed, salted and put into forms.

In fact, it has some ressemblance with the cheddaring process and maybe that’s why I also thought of a very mature cheddar when I first tasted the cheese.
Maybe blue – maybe not

The blue mould in Bleu de Termignon also makes it different from other blue mould cheeses. Normally, you add blue mould culture to the fluid milk when you produce a blue cheese. Maybe the mould is made from the natural mould in the area (for instance from the caves of roquefort). The cheese is pierced with long needles in order for air to enter and blue mould can grow.

In the case of Bleu de Termignons you do nothing. No blue mould culture. No needles. The mould is in the chalet and in the wooden tools. When the curds are minced, the mould finds it. Or it doesn’t. Sometimes the cheeses have no blue.

I only know of cabrales which matures in caves in Asturias (Spain) where they don’t add mould nor pierce the cheese.

Colourful rind

Nature has wrapped this cheese in a beautiful, quite thick rind dotted with all colours from the brown palette. The small red dots, ‘le fleur rouge’ is also found on the rocks in the area. This cheese is really a piece of nature.

Visit an alpine chalet

The French affineur (one who matures cheese) Mons has made a really cool film showing the cheese life of one of the six producers. If you have 12 minutes, grab a coffee and take a break while you enjoy the scenery and see how nature and cheese making is closely connected. You will see how the milk from 18 cows gives three cheeses. Feel the weight of the buckets filled with milk when they are carried from the small barn to the dairy in the other chalet. See how Catherine’s arm muscles are growing when she minces the curds.

The cheese monger from Oslo smells the Bleu de Termignon. He senses the story of the remote Alpin area, the cold, damp cheese cellar in the chalets and the wild herbs being eaten by the cows…

Needless to say, if you ever come across Bleu de Termignon, please taste it! 🙂
23. February 2019