Comte Coma: Part II

Last night there was the craziest storm. So, we couldn’t close the windows in our hotel room because it was swelteringly hot, and around 5am the thunder started booming. It was violent and earth-shattering. Thus, the time to wake up came far too early.

Breakfast was awesome! I was so torn because I’m pretty sure I was still full from the night before. But for the first time since coming to France, breakfast was more than just bread. So, of course, I had to embrace the moment, go down a notch on my belt, and dig in. There were eggs, whole fruit, cereal, and yogurt (my favorite)—of course bread and croissants were options, too, but there were so many other things!

Once again, I was really full. We left hotel and boarded the bus to go visit a farm where they were making Comte (yummmm). 

When we arrived, the milk truck was still in the driveway and huge copper vats were being heated and stirred. 

We then watched as the contents of one vat were pumped and showered over another tub with 8 molds with sieves. 

The molds were catching the curd, and as we watched, the copper vat emptied to completion, the sieves were removed to leave behind the metal mold, filled to the brim with fresh curd. 

These were smoothed, capped and set on racks by machine to drain further. 

They then set up for the next batch. We learned  that they received their milk from a cooperative of farmers who independently did not produced enough milk to make the cheese. This facility would process 4 or 5 batches of milk per day to yield 32 to 40 wheels of Comte.

After observing the process, we were shown the rooms where the cheeses age for several weeks. On sight, there were thousands of cheeses waiting to be sent to caves for further aging. Like all the other cheese facilities we’d been to, this one had a store as well. But in this store, we could taste some Comte. Could I resist? Ha. No way.

We stopped off at the Jura market that afternoon to purchase some supplies for a picnic lunch in the mountains before our visit to an old fort, where they now age Comte up to 4 years. I picked up a cucumber and some irresistible 26 month Comte. Now this cheese… this cheese. I really hope I can find some at home. Our picnic was pretty epic. We had bread (weird, right?), a wide variety of cheeses, carrot salads, cantaloupe, figs, cucumber, tomatoes, cherries, and so on. We also had the opportunity to try real English Cheddar cheese FROM Cheddar. Now, after that, I really don’t understand how they got American Cheddar. Why abandon the method of something that was already so good? Or defame it’s good name with such an imposter? Oh geez… I’ve been spoiled.

Our bus tried to fit though this tunnel...
It was WAY too big.

Filled to the brim, we entered the Comte storage facility. Unfortunately, all the food began to take its toll. This is precisely why I can do big lunches. I could hardly stand I was so tired. At one point, when I was standing as far as possible from the creepy mannequins which were demonstrating the cheese making process in repeated, rigid motion, I leaned against a wall and started to fall asleep on the spot. I was jolted awake as my knee started to give out under me. I resorted to pacing.

As I said, the facility used to be a fort, so the walls were several feet thick stone. Thus, the temperature in the cellar was naturally seven degrees Celsius year round. We entered the room where there were 4-year-aged rounds of Comte. The stench of this room set our eyes watering and sent us running: it absolutely reeked of ammonia. It turns out that this smell is a natural product of the aging process because as proteins are breaking down, they release nitrogen compounds, therefore, ammonia.

We ended our tour with a sensual movie with a man in a robe talking about all the efforts involved in caring for the Comte during the aging process and producing a high quality product. And again, we were provided with a tasting of 6 month, 12 month, and 18 month Comte cheeses. The 12-month was produced using summer’s milk and had a distinctly more yellow hue. Further, it was texturally different. It was more crumbly, whereas the non-summer milk cheeses were slightly more firm and rubbery. All different, all delicious.

After lack of sleep last night because of the storm, all the food today, and the intense heat, I readily stretched out in the last row of seats on the bus and fell right asleep for the entire ride home. 

I’m now working on my presentation for tomorrow morning, before which I need to get up and go to the farmers market to purchase some Salers!