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France Trip (15 - 27 May 2008)
Tour Dairy by Cheesemaker Christopher Ganzer |
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16 May to 17 May 2008
No
surprises to be met with a cold wet day in London, but the snow of four
weeks earlier had well and truly departed. The England leg consisted
of a visit to a traditional cheddar cheese factory near Bath in the
west, close to Wales. This very traditional factory reminded me of
old factories I worked in during the late 1980's. Pretty rough and
ready, with less than first class cheese.
Saturday involved a visit to the Borough Markets, near Waterloo
Station. This market has been operating as a food market since the
1300's and is a wonderful collection of specialty foods. On hand
were Spanish hams, fois gras, cheese, confections, bread and so many
other delights. The Montgomery's Cheddar I tasted on the day was
spectacular and a big step up from the day before.
Located directly next to the Borough Market, is Neils Yard Dairy which
has to be one of the best cheese stores I have seen and not because of
the diverse range and quality of cheese, but because of the incredibly
knowledgeable staff. Every single person behind the counter had an
intimate knowledge of the products on tasting - it is a very big
lesson for all those retailers wanting to sell cheese.
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Chris Ganzer with
EFJ Gould Cheesemaker
Putting cheddar cheese curd
into hoops
Neils Yard Dairy at
Borough Markets
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18 May to 21 May 2008
Eurostar
from London to Paris with 10 Australians takes about 6 bottles of
champagne (I can assure you that you will want to put that in a to-do
list).
Normandy is green, and filled with wheat, cows, apples and wind
farms. The tour was based in Caen which was the home of William
the Conquerer who invaded England in 1066. It is also a 30 minute drive
to Omaha Beach on of the D-Day landing beaches.
Normandy is of course the home of Camembert and we visited 3, AOC
certified factories making raw milk Camembert in the traditional
method. I have tasted a lot of cheese in my day, but I can not
get my pallet around raw milk Camembert. It has a distinct
sulphury cabbage like taste that will not make me a fan of this cheese
any time soon.
As a complete contrast, we went to the Graindorge factory which makes
Pont L'Eveque and Livarot which you can buy in Australia. The
production methods are fully automated and each of the 300L vats were
on a train system which transported them to a robotic control step.
The photo shows the curd cutting step using a robotic cutter.
Just amazingly efficient.
On leaving Normandy the tour took us to Vimoutiers near the district of
Camembert. Next to the town square is the statue of Marie Harel
who is credited with the development of the first Camembert.
Photos(top): Thats me hanging out at the Cheese Bar at DJ's (bottom): Rice Bubbles in the gourmet food aisle?
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Omaha Beach Memorial
Traditional Normandy Camembert production
Automated production of
Pont L'Eveque
Statue of Marie Harel at
Vimoutiers near
Camembert
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22 May to 23 May 2008
The
place that is all things fine in food and Chaetuax, the Loire Valley,
saw the group visit 2 contrasting Goat Cheese farms and factories. Strong, confident farmer’s wives, quaint
country goat farms were the similarities.
One precise and exacting, the other flamboyant and the personification of take it as it comes. Earl La Petite Foret produced St More a fresh goat cheese, with a wooden
rod through the centre to certify authenticity from the AOC (Cheese Authority).
Delicate and clean this was the standout cheese from the entire tour – a true
delight for this technician. Cheverie du Bois Cherriot was
owned by Muriel Bard, a wild and fascinating women,
with a truly individual approach. The
cheese making techniques were as wild and as fascinating as the women herself.
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Farmhouse at Earl La Petite Foret
A Flower Shop in Loire Valley
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24 May to 28 May 2008
The
remainder of the tour saw the French capital as the base for visits
around Ile de France. Paris is all that the stories tell and
more. Take a street back from the tourist strips and you see
another Paris, with the rat poison shop from the movie
“Ratatouille” there in all its glory and teenagers dressed
up as Asterix and Obelix running through the street of Ile St Louis.
A short trip east of Paris on your way to the champagne district takes
you past the town of Meaux, which is one of the numerous towns in the
region to be the traditional makers of Brie. Unlike Australian
Brie which tend to be small, creamy and very soft, Brie de Meaux comes
a 3kg wheel, firm and full flavoured. Almost every time I have
tasted Brie de Meaux and Fromage de Meaux (the pasteurised milk
version), they tend to have a background bitterness to them that is a
result of an over developed white mould. Visiting one of the last Brie
de Maeux factories that takes milk directly from the farm to the cheese
vat was a real delight. Fromagerie Ganot is a family business
with only the Ganot descendants able to make the cheese. Our
host, Martina, was a Ganot descendant and is able to make Brie, but her
husband and father were not. It was an amazing tradition that
seems so out of place in the modern world, but easy to respect when you
see the passion the family has to continue the tradition.
In the near by champagne district, a visit to Moet Chandon is a must
and unexpectedly it is smack bang in the middle of the village of
Epiney. Expecting some delightful country retreat the Moet
Chandon winery is in a non-descript brick building in the middle of
town and it is not until you start your tour and step down into the
cellars that you realise that they are hidden away under the
streets. The photo attached doesn’t do justice to the
engineering marvel – if you like digging you will love it.
The last visit of the tour was to the enormous and very daunting Rungis
Markets in the southern suburbs of greater Paris. The largest
fresh food markets in the world take up an amazing 160 ha and hosts
over 12000 workers per day. Made up of a seafood market, 2 separate
meat markets a dairy and flower market, Rungis Markets is a site to
behold.
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A nice girl I know fairly well in Paris
APoison Shop in Paris featured in Ratatoullie
Brie de Maux in the maturing room
A statue of Dom Perignon outside the Moet Cellars in Epiney
Some of the delights at Rungis Markets |
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