by Keith Kellett
I like cheese.
There’s nothing like a cheese-board to round out a good meal. One of the best ones I’ve had in a long time is produced by John Crompton, the chef at the Hotel Aravis Lodge in France’s mountainous Haut Savoie district.
There were only two cheeses on the board, the local Reblochon and, from further afield, Tome de Bauge. But, they were enough, especially accompanied by glasses of red wine and bowls of dried apricots and walnuts.
The previous day, we sat in an upland pasture and feasted on crusty batons, stuffed with the Reblochon and Tome. Looking down the verdant and lush valley, one surrounded by lofty mountainous peaks, made the “cheese sandwich” description sound inadequate.
We hadn’t come here to taste the cheese, though. We’d come to walk in those mountain pastures, but, cheese was everywhere and couldn’t be avoided.
Our daily path led us past mountain chalets, or upland farms. In winter, the farmer and his family live in the valley, where the herds are kept while snow lies on those high fields. In spring, the cows are led up the hill, and the family move back into the chalet.
France is noted for its wide variety of cheeses, and also has the AOC, or Appelation d’Origine Contrôlée. This means that the names of locally-produced cheeses are protected by law. You cannot do as they do in England, where “cheddar” cheese is sold – and it wasn’t produced in England, let alone Cheddar.
Reblochon has been made in the Thones valley since the 13th Century. It ust be produced within that area and made from milk from only three breeds of cows.
Reblochon means second milking from the product of which the cheese was originally made. It is sometimes said that farmers used to be taxed according to the milk yield of the herd. But, to avoid paying tax on unsold milk, they only partially milked the cows, taking just what they estimated they could sell. Then, they turned the cows back out to pasture, to milk them again when the inspector had gone. This milk had a sweeter taste than the first official milking
They couldn’t, however, sell the milk obtained by this method, so they made cheese instead.
These days there are two kinds of Reblochon. Some farmers take the milk to a co-operative, where the cheese is made; this is marked with an edible red disc, or pastille in the cheese’s rind. If the farmer makes the cheese himself, it gets the green disc and is called ‘Reblochon Fermier. It is made from the milk of a single herd and held to be superior.
One important note: you mustn’t call your cheese farmhouse cheese unless it was made on a farm.
If a farmer doesn’t actually make cheese, but sends it to a milk to a co-operative, it’s blended with milk from other herds, and is distinguished from Reblochon Fermier by being marked with a red pastille in the rind.
A close relative of Reblochon is Tome, a name which comes from a dialect word ‘Toma’, which means “cheese from the mountain pastures.” It’s made in much the same way as Reblochon, but cooked at a higher temperature and left to mature for longer.
This results in a harder, nuttier cheese, and the most highly regarded is the already-mentioned Tome de Bauges … distinguished by spelling its name with one “M.”
Walking the Walk
For a lot of people, the phrase ‘Alpine walking’ is a bit of an off-put. It conjures up visions of using a lot of arcane and expensive ironmongery to climb up a gnarly, near-vertical, ice-covered rock face. But, in actual fact, the kind I’m talking about involves good paths through lush meadows, accompanied most of the time by the plangent clangour of cow-bells.
With the minimum of clothing and equipment, maybe you’re marvelling that you are well above the highest point in the British Isles. Even then, you’ll frequently pass a farm where they make and sell cheese.
But, if you don’t fancy that kind of walking, you can go into Annecy on Sunday morning where a market is held in Old Town. Around here, as well as elsewhere in France, the phrase “farmer’s market” is a tautology. Most stalls sell local produce … ham, vegetables, and, of course, cheese.
How to Get there: The nearest airport is Geneva, across the border in Switzerland; approximately one hour’s drive from St. Jean de Sixt. The nearest main rail station is at Annecy, about one half hour away. There’s a bus service from Annecy approximately every two hours; fare is about seven euros.
There is no public transport form Geneva airport, except in winter, when a ski-bus operates.
Where to Stay: We stayed at the Aravis Lodge Hotel in St Jean de Sixt, where there’s an excellent kitchen presided over by chef John Crompton, who also runs cooking holidays, see www.cookinginfrance.biz. The owners of the Aravis Lodge organise ski-ing and walking weekends. You can find the details at www.karibuni.co.uk. If you’re taking part in one of these tours, or just staying there, the owners will arrange a free transfer from Annecy or Geneva for you.
Keith Kellett is globalfoodie’s UK correspondent. He can be reached at: Keith@globalfoodie.com.
