Tag Archives: cheese

A visit to a Swiss alpine fromagerie

Friend and cheesemaker Christian Nobel, writes about his family’s recent trip from Australia to visit relatives in Switzerland.

The mountain path

 We start at the valley bottom very early in the morning. The weather forecast is great and although there is no indication yet of the rising sun, the mountains are starting to appear as the darkness disappears. After a strenuous passage through a dense pine forest, we continue up a rocky path that has never seen a car or truck before.

These alpine trails are only for hikers or one or two wild alpine farmers riding motor bikes, which have been specifically adjusted for crazy and steep paths. Up in these high alpine areas, one either walks, or if available, transports goods by aerial ropeway or even by helicopter.

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A day at a fromagerie

by Martin Field
Perhaps the most simple and enjoyable food and wine match is that of wine (red especially) and cheese. French winemakers have it right when they say, ‘Sell with cheese, buy with apples.’
Like many wine and cheese lovers, I’d experienced aspects of the winemaking process but I’d never seen cheese production. Until, that is, friend and cheesemaker, Christian Nobel of Fromart Cheese, invited me to his cheese factory. Or, as we would say in Noosa, his fromagerie.
Before entering said fromagerie, I donned a dinky little white hat, a long white apron, and big white gum boots. I’d also had to walk through an antiseptic pool and had scrubbed my hands and arms to near surgical standards – the first of many scrubbings during the day.
Fifteen hundred litres of fresh creamy milk, from Jersey cows fed on lush verdant Mary Valley pastures, gushed into a stainless steel vat as I arrived. [Ed: enough with the pastoral imagery already.]

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Caseus Award Report

by Martin Field
Australian Cheesewhiz Richard Thomas told me of his recent visit to France as a participant in the International Caseus Award competition.
‘Hi Martin, Amazing time in France. Found THE food street of Paris, Rue Mouffetard, with an M. Androuet Fromagerie plus two others. Ninety per cent of the cheese was ‘lait cru’ so it’s still the cheese at the top end, that’s for sure. So I was charging around like a Mad Cambodian Duck Strangler eating all the cheese I could lay my teeth on. Plus, the shops were awash with all kinds of foie gras, of truffled items (like an Italian salami with tartufo), of ready meals, of apple pies, etc. All amazing.
‘We took off to Getaria, a little Basque fishing town just west of San Sebastian, a place I started visiting in the early ‘70s, hasn’t changed, great restaurants, grilled fish, crab and foie gras etc. Fabulous.

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