Cheese Buyer - May 2025

rubbing each one with brine solution for up to 24+ months. It is down to their experience and expertise to decide when the cheese is ready for consumption. As a result, one piece of Comté might have a firmer texture with a nuttier taste and another might be smoother with a more floral flavour, dependent on several factors such as the altitude the cows were grazing at, the time of year and the skills of the affineur during ageing. Each wheel and bite of Comté is therefore completely unique. No fewer than 83 different flavour profiles in six flavour ‘families’ have been identified in Comté. These flavour profiles are as diverse as walnut, buttered toast, artichoke, leather and vanilla. 45 COMTÉ specialityfoodmagazine producing high-qualitymilk and giving Comté its very special taste, scent, colour and texture. Every single day, the milk is brought in from a collection of the nearest local farms and transformed into large 40kg wheels of Comté cheese by small village dairies, known as fruitières. These dairies use the refined skills and expertise passed down fromgeneration to generation, to make sure each batch of the cheese is at its most perfect for consumption. Aged by experts The wheels are moved to local ageing caves and cellars, where affineurs take care of the wheels of Comté during the ageing process, regularly turning, salting and C omté is a truly unique cheese with over a thousand years of history and is guaranteed to have your customers talking about it for days and weeks to come. For centuries, farmers, fruitières and affineurs of the Jura Mountains of Eastern France have been lovingly producing the internationally popular Comté cheese every single day of the year. As such, this is a cheese for all seasons, to be enjoyed both on the cheeseboard, whether that’s out and about for picnics and lunchboxes, at home for a dinner party, or in cooking. Comté is a firm favourite of chefs and home cooks all over the world. With its array of delicious flavours, it is a perfect addition to manymouth-watering dishes, from gratins and risottos to seasonal salads and soups. Its ability to melt easilymeans it can be added to all kinds of recipes, giving each one of them a different flavour. A flavour steeped in provenance Its delicious flavour originates from the rawmilk of the Montbéliarde and French Simmental cows of the Jura Mountains, each of which has its own hectare of land to graze on. The cows eat grass and a wide range of plants and flowers out on the pasture in the summer, and locally harvested hay in the winter, With an ancient history and unique and universally loved flavour, Comté is a smart stocking choice for your cheese counter By stocking different ages of Comté, your customers can experience this first-hand for themselves, encouraging them to decide which age of the cheese they prefer, including whether their palate preference leans more towards a winter or a summer flavour. Certified quality It has been awarded AOC status, whichmeans that it must be made following the traditional rules that generations have been using to create the cheese exclusively in this region that has integrated Comté into every aspect of the community life. Comté was recently featured in the César and Cannes award- winning ‘Holy Cow’ film, shot in the Jura region by a local director and withmany local actors. This has generated an even bigger interest in the cheese from the consumer audience who have been given a unique glimpse into the world of Comté-making: the perfect time to introduce this special cheese to your customers. A CHEESE FOR ALL SEASONS For centuries, farmers, fruitières and affineurs of the Jura Mountains of Eastern France have been lovingly producing the internationally popular Comté cheese every single day of the year If you would like to stock Comté and enjoy a slice of the potential profits of this wonderfully unique cheese, head to comtecheese.co.uk/are-you-a-cheese-reseller/ to contact us, as well as downloading promotional materials to support your sales.