 Comté
(Kone-TAY)
This ancient cheese also known as Gruyere de Comté. Comté are made in small dairies called
"fruitière" that collect
the milk of several farmers. It takes about 120 gallons of milk to make one Comté
wheel (that is the daily production of 30 cows).
Special companies
such as Rivoire Jacquemin and called Affineur look after the the
maturing cheese from 4 months to up to a couples of years.
It is then, through care and attention that the texture gets
finer and the aromas grow richer. The rind that protects the
cheese takes an important part in its maturing process. Laid out
on spruce boards, the future Comté pass through a succession of
humid cellars at different temperatures. The affineur decides on
the sequence that suits the potential of each wheel. He
regularly turns the wheels over, salts them and rubs them with
morge. Morge is a salted solution containing salt and the rind
of older Comtés to enable the best rind to form. Rivoire
Jacquemin is the only affineur using Sea Salt from
Guérande or Noirmoutier to make its morge.
The cheese has a thin beige rind which thickens and hardens as the cheese matures. The straw colored paste
has the tendency to crack on cutting. This cheese has a
wonderful aroma with nutty fudge flavors developing in
the more mature cheese. the bite is firm, dry and slightly
granular while the acidity is slightly fizzy. The taste is full of nuts and toffee
with a lovely long finish. Older cheeses take a strong, farmyard
like character.
T he
marking of Comté wheels: No Comté can be sold without a
branded band around its circumference. When the affinage is
completed, each wheel is examined and graded out of twenty
according to grading scale that focuses on taste, texture and
appearance. Cheeses with a grading of at least 15 get a
green marking band reading "COMTE EXTRA". Those
with the grade between 12 and 14 get a brown label reading
Comté. Under 12 the cheese do not qualify for the AOC comté
label.
To satisfy the most demanding customers Rivoire Jacquemin offers
different sub-gradings to his extra comtés:
- Grand Affinage (reservation required)
- Révélation (minimum 10 months)
- Tradition (minimum 8 months)
- Sélection (minimum 6 months)
- Extra de Saison (spring, summer, fall,
winter).
The herds graze in the fields in summer and in winter they are
fed with the hay harvested locally in summer time. The richness
and the variety pasture land in the Jura mountains play a
very important part in the aromatic diversity of comté cheese.
The main aromas are grouped within 6 families. Each familly
contains a set of smells which, though different, have similar
characters:
Lactic:
 |
Lactic: it contains the smells of
milk and other diary products |
| Fruits, Honey and flowers |
| Toasted: the smell that arises after
the contact with heat |
| Vegetable: fresh and dried plants,
humus, ... |
| Animal: egg, leather, stable, ... |
| Spices |
Comté your table: Comté is one of the very few
cheeses that can appear at any stage of a meal, from aperitif to
cheeseboard. It is also particularly adapted to large number of
culinary preparations as it melts and turns golden when heated (i.e:
quiches, soups, tarts, gratins).
When used to thicken the sauce, it adds flavor and creaminess to
it. It goes particularly well with fish and white meat.
Wine Pairing: Jura wines (vin Jaune, Savagnin),
Chardonnay (Chablis,
Meursault, Montrachet, Pouilly-Fuissé, Anjou, Saumur),
Chenin Blanc, Viognier
|
1951
Milk:
raw
Specific Cow: Montbéliarde or simmenthal
Type: hard cooked and pressed, natural brushed rind
(not edible)Pungency: mild
Optimum Maturation: 8 months
Maximum Maturation: two years
Shape H:
5"
D: 2'
Weight from 80 to 120 lbs
Sections: 1/4 (21 lbs.), 1/8 (11 lbs.), 1/12
(7.7 lbs.), 1/16 (5.5 lbs), 1/24
(4 lbs.), 1/32 (2.6 lbs.), 7 oz.
Fat Content: 45%
1951
Packaging: loose or vacuum packed for section
 
Repack Sticker:
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