Gold without controversy - Crowning the realm of cheese
March 6, 2002 - The Boston Globe
PARIS - Imagine, if you will, standing in the middle of a vast field of cheese.
This was the scene last week at Paris’ Salon de L’Agriculture – perhaps the biggest-producing farm in France. The Salon might seem similar to an indoor Topsfield Fair, with all of its cows, tractors, and agricultural exhibits. Simply replace the cotton candy and fried dough with a sea of this nation’s best food.
Along with judging pigs and chickens, there are food competitions run by the French Fish and Agriculture Ministry, which judges over 14,500 different products with heavy concentrations on cheese and wine. Being good enough to get into the competition is difficult, and winning a gold, silver or bronze Feuille de Chene (oak leaf) is a very big deal. Consumers know and respect the competition, and the little round stickers that went onto the winning products last Wednesday often add to demand in the United States.
You get an olfactory overload just walking in the door of the judging hall. The cheese section is a veritable wall of barnyard goodness, and you can get drunk on the air where the eau de vie is on display.
Hundreds of serious judges sit in small groups around little tables stacked with anonymous cheese. And these judges aren’t beret-toting celebrities with handlebar mustaches. They’re agricultural experts and they get into heated discussions as they poke and prod each piece with their fingers, sniff it, and taste it intently. Bland cheeses made by industrial giants don’t stand a chance.
Citing the 800 cheeses that do rise to the challenge, Claude Laroche, head of the competitions, says, “We can’t just judge any old cheese.’’ Since Laroche signs all 3,300 award certificates by hand, you get the feeling he could tell you something about every one of the winning products.
When the results were released, the professionals-only cheese pavilion was bubbling with enthusiasm. Winners walked around with bottles of wine, sporting grins like fathers of newborns.
That’s just it - the cheese is their baby. Jean-Charles Arnaud, president of Fromageries Arnaud, was one of these proud fathers. His Comte, Juraflore de Montagne, took the Feuille d’Or for the sixth year running - something never before achieved by any cheese in the competition. Within minutes, Arnaud had me squishing his Comte between my fingers, and then urging me to taste the fruits, vegetables, spices, and roasted flavors.
Arnaud talks about the reluctance of the American market to accept unpasteurized dairy products. “We all started our lives drinking unpasteurized milk,’’ he says. “It’s the most beautiful substance in the world.’‘
When Jean Pinchon, one of the legends in the world of French cheese, walks up to congratulate him, Arnaud breaks out the Macvin, a traditional wine from the Jura Mountains where Comte is produced. Several times, Pinchon has refused the post of agriculture minister, preferring his place as the director of the society that oversees the Appellation d’Origine Controlee for cheese.
“All Comtes aren’t the same,’’ Pinchon says. “There’s a joy in the judging of each cheese.’’ He doesn’t hide that joy as he nibbles a hunk of Arnaud’s Comte.
Pierre Cousot, President of Isigny Sainte Mere cheeses, from Normandy, shared the silver medal for his Camembert. This turns out to be a sign of just how serious the judges are; no gold medal was given out this year, just two silvers.
I ask Cousot about exporting his Camembert to the U.S. and how he gets around the 60-day aging law for unpasteurized product. (Camembert is generally at its peak after only four weeks) “We have to heat the milk for the Camembert we export to the U.S. up a little,’’ he concedes. His year-aged Mimolette, similar to an aged Gouda, has won gold, and that’s available in the U.S. as well (though is isn’t pasteurized).
I scan through my list of export winners and look for Les Monts de Joux, a cheese-producing cooperative, and find Alain Mierral, one of the co-op’s members swamped with well-wishers. It turns out that he does not export. A shame, I decide, as I taste my way through their product line, working up to their Mont d’Or, one of the kings of good, stinky cheese.
A baby is being pushed in a stroller. His little sister has grabbed a sample from Mierral’s display and the baby is screaming for a taste.
It isn’t just the judges who take cheese seriously.
Juraflore Comte is available at many Whole Foods Markets and Trader Joe’s stores; Isigny Sainte Mere Camembert is occasionally available at Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge and South End Formaggio. For a list of winners, go to http://www.concours-agricole.com.
This story ran on page E1 of the Boston Globe on 3/6/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.
