le Salon International de l'Agriculture 2012

Unbelievable, enormous and incredible!  This exposition, le Salon International de l'Agriculture, is always something to see. The animals, the products and the people are a tour de force. The French are incredibly proud of their agricultural heritage and their attachment to the land. This is the place to see it in full swing, 360 animal races, 2300 animals and 4000 products artisanal and industrial to discover and taste, you could spend days out at the Porte de Versailles trying to take it all in. 

In addition, the milk industry holds a Salon for cheese and milk product professionals. It is a real "Who's who" for the cheese industry. Small producer, collectives, industrial producers are there to show off their wares and convince new clients to give them a try. 

We went and met some of them such as the two women from the Cévennes whose cooperative, La Fromagerie des Cévennes, regroups the goat milk of 22 producers from le Gard, la Lozére and les Cévennes to produce favourites like le Pélardon AOP; Moissac des Cévennes and le Seillou. They have introduced rediscovered or new cheeses such as the tomme la Parpaillote or le Réboussier.  You can visit their farm and meet them in person.

Or another group, Etoile du Quercy, which is part of the company les Fromagerie de l'Etoile, who introduced two interesting cheeses - le Compostelle and le Rocamadour Grand Cru. Each are 100% raw goat milk from the region of Quercy in the south west and really wonderful, creamy examples of the goat cheeses from this region. The Compostelle is a cross between a Rocamadour and a traditional Cabécou.  It is a little bit bigger and thicker with a firmer pate. What makes the Rocamadour Grand Cru special is the traditional cheese comes in it's very own little wooden box just like a Camembert, which makes it perfect for cheeseboards.

Monsieur Jean-Yves Bordier, the famous fromager turned Maître de Beurre, was there showing off his skills. He produces le Beurre Bordier, a beurre de baratte which uses several time consuming techniques, barattage and malaxer to form the butter. When the raw butter is at a specific temperature and texture, it is beaten with two small wooden paddles and shaped either into unique little forms or huge 5 kilo portions for la crème de la crème restaurants. Besides doux, demi-sel ou salé, some of his unique butters are smoked, with Algae or Piment d'Espelette.

This expo is so amazing that you really can spend days going from building to building, looking at cows, watching goat be born, chicks hatched, the competitions, sampling all the delicacies from the various regions and just absorbing the culture.  I always invite people to go with me just to see their reaction to this spectacle of the countryside.  It is really something not to miss and now we are seeing other countries start to participate, which means it will only be bigger next year. 

Pélardon

A truly wonderful cheese! Soft, creamy and not to strong in my opinion, this little goat cheese is a true representative of its region. Like its cousin, Rocamadour, it is available all year around but now is a great season for this round wonder. Originally from Languedoc-Roussillon, paraldon, pélardou or also péraudou, le pélardon is the envoy of the Cévennes, the Pélardon have been known since Pliny the Elder wrote about the « Péraldou » cheese with the strong taste. 

In 1756, the naturalist, Abbé Boissier de Sauvage documented in his Dictionnaire languedocien-françois, “this small, round and flat cheese from the Cévennes which has a sharp and peppery taste which is rubbed with the leaves of the viburnum tree”. The famous Occitan poet, Frédéric Mistral honoured the cheese with a place in his comprehensive dictionary of the Occitan language, Lou Tresor dóu Félibrige (1878–1886). It is now produced in the departments of the Aude, Gard, Hérault, Lozère and Tam from milk of the Alpine,Saanen and Rove breeds of goats. The cheese includes the Pélardon des Cévennes, Pélardon d’Anduze and Pélardon d’Altier. 

All the small goat's chesses in this region were and still are called pelardon. It is a soft pate raw goat’s milk cheese made in spring, summer and fall. The pate is uncooked and unpressed. The cheese rind is barely formed, soft and wrinkled and as it matures it develops a natural mould. The taste of the Pélardon des Cévennes is fruity with a fine balance between acidity and saltiness; this gives the cheese a full, rich milky flavour that lingers on the palate. The maturing period of the pelardon is two to three weeks in a well-aerated cellar.

Rocamadour - the sublime goat cheese from les Causses, France

Cabécou de Rocamadour/Rocamadour

Originally called Cabécou in Occitan, which means “little goat”, this cheese may have its origins from the time the Saracens invaded the region. This is the famous goat cheese of the celebrated village of la Vierge Noire (the Black Virgin). Rocamadour. A medieval settlement erected directly on a cliff, in the rich countryside of Causses du Quercy. It is one of the oldest traditional products made in Quercy, the Lot region. In historical text from the 15th century, this cheese is described as having monetary value and used to pay taxes and as part of the métayage system used by serfs, as tenant farmers to pay to their Seigneur.

This region’s has chalky soil, marked by history and human activity, and is favourable for the raising of goats. The curds are placed in moulds by hand; it has a fine rind, a tender and creamy interior and is only 100g. This most wonderful cheese has a distinct animal perfume with subtle creamy and buttery flavours, with a slightly sweet hazel-nut perfumed aftertaste. It can be eaten throughout its ageing, which strengthens the tastes, eat it fresh, or when it has become creamy, aged when it has dried out or baked on a salad or on a slice of bread. Recommended wine:  White wine: Lirac (Clairette, Grenache Blanc grapes) Light and fruity red wine: Beaujolais (Gamay Noir grape) But the best is a glass of Cahors will reveal its subtle aromas.