I will start a new series of posts on cheeses. I love cheese with a piece of bread just out of the oven and a few pieces of nuts and grapes, a delight. I will of course start with my favorite.

The Morbier

Is a designation of origin designating a cheese made from raw cow milk, made in the Jura massif in France and which takes its name from the commune of Morbier.

This name has been protected by a PDO since 2002.

The morbier is a raw milk cheese made from uncooked pressed dough, having the shape of a cylinder 30 to 40 cm in diameter, 5 to 8 cm high, with a weight of 5 to 8 kg. It has flat faces and a slightly convex heel.

Its natural crusting, smooth and homogeneous, is light gray to beige orange. Its paste is ivory to pale yellow. It is supple, creamy and melting, with a fine texture, with a slight taste of cream. Its fragrance is frank, fruity and persistent. This cheese has a horizontal stripe, well welded and continuous over the whole slice.

It combines with light red wines and dry white wines.

The existence of Morbier has been confirmed since the end of the 18th century. It was not until the end of the year 2000 that this Comtois cheese was recognized in AOC, after 14 years of regional label.

To acquire the name "Morbier", the cheese must be refined for at least 45 days.

AOP - AOC

The Appellation d'origine protégée (AOP) designates a product whose main stages of production are carried out according to recognized know-how in the same geographical area, which gives its characteristics to the product. It is a European sign that protects the name of the product throughout the European Union.

The Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) designates products that meet the criteria of the PDO and protects the denomination on French territory. It is a step towards the AOP, now a European sign.

It is the concept of terroir that forms the basis of the concept of appellations of origin.

A terroir is a particular geographical area where a production derives its originality directly from the specificities of its area of production. A delimited space in which a human community builds collective production know-how in the course of its history, the terroir is based on a system of interactions between a physical and biological environment and a set of human factors. There are the originality and the typicity of the product.

History

It was created in the nineteenth century by Franche-Comtois farmers who, having no milk in sufficient quantities to make a large cheese (usually the Comté), had the idea to sprinkle the curd with a thin layer of soot recovered passing his hands over the wall of the cauldron and having the function of protecting him from insects, waiting for the next milking.

They thought they were protecting and keeping the cheese. The second curd was then placed on the preceding curve, the black vein remaining in the middle.

The next day, after the preparation of the Comté, the remainder of the trade came to cover the first layer. Farmers reserved the cheese thus obtained for their own consumption.

Nowadays, the thin layer of ash with the sweet and fruity flavor that characterizes it has only a decorative role in memory of this old practice, which gives it an ash-blue color at its center.

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