Caseophile

Cheese and Zinc

Strange but true…cheeses are these days the most important contributor of zinc to the food that we French eat, and the second most important to our children's food, after milk.

It's not me that says so, it's the "Cheese and Health Institute" which does just that and they are run by the milk industry … and the same is said in other sources like a Canadian health site.

Also Le Progrès, the major daily newspaper in Lyon featured on its website leprogres.fr on 19 October, an article claiming "eat Comté cheese so you don't get ill" … because… to ensure you don't, you should try maintaining an adequate level of zinc in your diet and cheese fits the bill to a greater or lesser extent (one should avoid generalising – to speak of cheese in a general way is a heresy anyway, you should always say "cheeses" and just look on this website : you should eat less minced beef than camembert for the same quantity of zinc!) - yes, it's cheese that's the principal source of zinc for the French.

So let's build up our immunity by eating certain cheeses… although that's not the main reason to do so, the main reason for buying Comté cheese should always be its taste!

In summary, you can still derive pleasure by eating what is good for you, why not? If you know that a dose of zinc is perhaps beneficial, fine, but you should nonetheless remember that certain other ingredients in cheese can have other less benign consequences on the health of certain people. It's all a question of moderation.

Women and wine – quite naturally (Bordeaux)!

This is all about wines produced by women.

Not aimed at particular female tastes – but to be appreciated (in moderation, of course) by all mankind.

A few weeks back, I made the acquaintance of Corinne Saint Mleux from the Château de Beau-Site in the Graves region.

A six hectare property, masterfully managed by three generations of women:

• Mother, who serves up tasty little dishes for visitors who are booked into the rooms in their domain (and it seems she has an unbeatable expertise in preparing "cannelés" (pastry with a soft and tender custard center and a dark, thick caramelized crust… )my mouth is watering just to think about them!) "? I shall really have to go to meet this Madame Dumergue! I say "it seems" as her daughter did not have any for me to try the day I was there).

• Her daughter Corinne St Mleux who does "just about everything" in the domain – as she says herself – and cannot stop talking about how her vines are progressing. Of course a good wine can only come from a perfect knowledge of how to bring all those grapes to an optimal state – it's so easy to forget that. Luckily that knowledge abounds here. We were able to chat together about all that hard work, the refusal to use weedkiller (just like with antibiotics, one should avoid using it automatically) and the ability to pass on her passion for the job, without any fuss but with devotion…
  

• And as for the third generation: there are two daughters active there as well, thanks to whom there is a vintage of rosé wine (a table wine, as it does not qualify as an PDO Graves) called "Mesdemoiselles" … a gentle, most pleasant wine.

 Thanks therefore, ladies, for having introduced me to your "terroir" and allowing me to discover some well balanced wines, with red fruit tastes, with a touch of spice and vanilla … for the reds, of course … and a dry white … not too dry however, thanks to its blend of Sauvignon and Sémillon.

Tomorrow’s cheese? No today’s…

In Metz a week or so ago there took place an exhibition of French food industry suppliers (the CFIA). I was particularly interested by the section dealing with ingredient suppliers and "intermediate food product" suppliers. What was to be found there when it came to cheeses?

Not a wasted trip! And here are some interesting pictures – though you won't find these particular products on supermarket shelves as they are for the catering business.

1) From AB Technologies-France Fromage, a process where cheese is liquefied … so can be pumped, put through a dispenser, mixed when cold (I particularly like the way the different products are displayed in this showcase – bravo!)

2) Cheese can be spread hot, cold, for cooking, or as an accompaniment in sauce - from AB Technologies as well as from Eurial

3) Or else, it is simply an ingredient destined for certain specific uses and available in a practical form for immediate use (powder, pod, sheet or thread etc...) And at reasonable prices!

But don't worry, it still remains cheese, i.e. it's made from milk, starters, rennet and salt … simply available in forms you are not accustomed to … and probably will never see…

Where to buy your wine in St Quentin Fallavier (38)?

If you are close to Lyon and do not fancy plunging into the dense traffic of the metropolis to buy your wine, here's a solution… make for the retail area of the rue des Muguets on the outskirts of St Quentin Fallavier. There's a vast car park and among the surrounding shops a cellar man with an appetising name:

        Le Cellier Gourmand - Tel: 04 74 94 46 81

Marc Barrois is passionate about his wine. He knows how to choose it … with great care … and a touch of eccentricity. He's sufficiently nutty to stock a Chilean Carmenère for example, or a dry Pacherenc de Vic-Bihl – ever heard of those? But at the same time knows his stuff - with a Mort Subite or a Rivesaltes that have a few years to their name.

And what would you say to a Kaefferkopf (from Alsace, evidently). Or a cider so good you'd want to keep it for yourself.

Well, do you feel like paying him a call?

To be drunk in moderation, of course… Never forget that alcohol can be not only harmful to your health but can also damage your olfactory neurons and make you lose your ability to taste … so learn to spit it out!

 

The Swiss Salon Culinaire opens in Paris on November 7th

It's the second time round and its name has slightly changed … and its "Swiss cheese bar" has become a little more culinary. But still at the same address:

From 7-14 November at 38 rue Quincampoix in the 4^th arrondissement of Paris;

And on the web you can reserve a place in some appetizing workshops… one in particular I recommend as it is run by a great, very friendly woman named Laetitia Gaborit, with a very appropriate title 'The Cheese Fairy" – which in fact takes place on Tuesday 10th November at 1830 – and I'm sorry not to be able to be there myself.

But let me know how it goes. I'm sure you'll pick up a lot of appetizing tips…

Red Berligou and red Melon…

Never heard of them? Well they're worth getting to know. We're not talking fruit here – both are vines from the Loire Atlantique department in the west of France.

Berligou is a Pinot Noir, introduced by King François II into a domain called Berligout à la Chabossière, with vine stock received in 1460 from Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy in person (he died in the siege of Nancy). It has an unsurpassed reputation: "Henri IV enjoyed this light and fruity red wine when he came to sign the Edict of Nantes"…

Since when… many things have come to pass – such as phylloxera, of course. The 25 hectares planted around Couëron (just next to Nantes) have been dug up; as have many others.

But it so happens, some people have found roots … in the conservatory of old vine stocks of Le Pallet and some stretches of planting are beginning to give grapes.

Bravo!

In parallel, look at this "melon", a vine that's well known by the inhabitants of Nantes as it's the grape used in making muscadet, which is just about changing colour. From being white, they have found some of them light red or rosé, it would appear.

A mutation that is not due to global warming, but as mentioned in an article from the Presse Océan newspaper , having a more rational explanation: according to Alain Poulard, a technician in the French Vine and Wine Institute (IFV) 'The Burgundy melon is the result of crossing a gouais, a little known white vine stock, with a pinot noir. Through this mutation, it rediscovers in some way one of its origins"

Now that the mutation has stabilised, this new melon, christened by some "Melon de Bretagne" (to distinguish it from its white cousin which is also called "Melon de Bourgogne") can now begin to be protected. There's a long way to go with numerous wine making tests. Some 5 years, let's say.

Meanwhile, a micro-production of a sparkling rosé made with these two new vines is being undertaken currently. As one (free) newspaper – 20 Minutes - recently put it: Berligou is making a sparkling return.

So all the best to these devoted people!

To be drunk in moderation, of course… so you can appreciate these new aromas without taking in too much alcohol.

 

Sulphites, pesticides and Co.

My attention was drawn to a recent TV programme here in France on the use of this category in our world of wine.

Chaptalisation is the technical word for it – or to be more accurate "overchaptalisation", via pesticides or other treatments for vines, Application of SO2 to crops to prevent any acetic transformation (the road leading to "vinegar"), exogenous yeast… The lot were all mixed together in the program and so my only comment would be that the presenter was just underlining the simplistic patter of the representative of the pesticide industries at the agricultural show and so you have the right to hear a simpler vision of the truth.

As I keep saying to those who are surprised when I tell them, the most important job in the cheese making process today is certainly that of the R&D specialist in "starters", which are added to the milk to "acidify" it, as well as "taste precursors" . One of the researchers was heard to comment on the subject of doubtful chemical additives: "and do you think that in making wine they just leave it all to the fermentation of the grape juice?"

But do note: certain wine makers do just that and I'm not criticizing those who don't! Each to keep to his own craft and, as we say, the cows will be well looked after!

So let the person who has never sinned throw the first stone … What would you do if you saw your crop deteriorating two weeks before harvest? What would you do if the market is saying your wine must taste the same year after year (the result of standardization)? What would you do if in order to appeal to certain wine judges, you must produce a particular type of wine – and you know that this is the way to sell all your production without dropping your prices? What to do also should your wine develop a smell like a stable of horses, which makes it practically undrinkable (due to brettanomyces).

Or looked at another way, is it fair to be thrown out from an "appellation" because you are making "atypical" wine, when all you are doing is respecting the laws of nature?

I have great sympathy for the opinions of the SEVE association and of Claude Bourguignon. He has set up with his wife the LAMS laboratory for the microbiological study of soils.

To me, it seems quite normal to watch over both the well being of one's vines as that of one's cows. Should we accept grapes becoming "fat" under the influence of NPK (Nitrate, Potassium, Phosphorous) fertilizer, leading to a shortage of oligo-elements and a need for treatment – and to kill the micro-organisms in the soil – and at the same time should we judge a cow only by its milk yield?

Just let's remember this saying of André Valadier, ex-President of the French National Committee for PDO Milk Products (INAO): "For a cheese to feel at ease in its rind, the milk should feel at ease in the teat and the cow at ease in its mind.

Well, I think one might say: "for a wine to feel at ease in its bottle, the grape should feel at ease on its vine and the vine in its soil".

But that's just me talking… an over-simplification … you just rely on your own taste buds (not on anybody else's opinions!)

Consumption of milk products on the wane

The figures are dramatic! Minus 12% in 8 years (from 2 studies by the AFSSA in 98/99 and 06/07).

The decline is more marked among seniors (-28% among men and -38% among women) – it's minus 16% among adult females and approx. -20% among adolescents. More than one half of men, two thirds of women, two thirds of boys aged 13-17 and two thirds of girls have a lower intake of calcium than the recommended level according to a national nutrition study (ENNS) undertaken in 2006.

Ouch! What's being done about it?

I find it hard to understand why it was only a week ago – years later than this report - that measures started to be taken to deal with this problem through the launch of a publicity campaign entitled "consume 3 milk products per day".

So where do I stand in all this? We're not all built the same way, but I promise you that my blood tests are tip top… I don't have any excess of triglycerides (you need some cholesterol to keep alive… but not too much…), I have a perfectly correct calcium level in my blood … I'm lucky, I know!! What should be bad news is that I abide (almost always) by the 13^th saying of our favorite epicurean Brillat Savarin that – a meal without cheese is like a beautiful woman who has lost one eye… and even after 20 years of heavy cheese consumption (2kg / week on average), I've never got sick of it and it's not done me any harm!

Where to buy your wine in Valognes (Manche)?

Le Cellier des Grands Vins (for more photos, check in their website)

50 boulevard Félix Buhot

50700 Valognes

Tel: 02 33 40 45 95

Bernadette and Claude decided to leave Provence and take over this cellar some 4 or 5 years ago. They have on display a selection of wines chosen with lots of taste (or should I say tastes?) – wines from the South of course, but not just those: I sampled there a full flavoured Touraine Sauvignon from the domaine de la Prévôté which I put together deliciously with a Comté cheese of 16 months…

A warm welcome … and solid advice… with one regret: the day I was there, Claude had run out of his "pavé de Valognes" a chocolate pavé (slab) …blue … that I would have loved to sample with a Banyuls… Well, I made up for it with their "jellied fruits wrapped in chocolate" from the Benedictine sisters of Valognes – and especially the minty one … Mmmmm! (Lord, may I be forgiven for my greed… ;-)                                                    

And a note for our English readers. Valognes is just 20 km SE of Cherbourg – so if you come over to France this way, it's a great place to stock up!

Where to buy your cheese in Melun?

Fromages & Compagnie

9 rue Carnot

77000 Melun

It's not far from the Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall) and attracts the local lovers of cheese. Or, to be exact, of cheeses. The shop was packed when I went on a Saturday, a good sign that the locals know where to get their bries! Those from Melen, of course, from Meaux (both have the local PDO recognition) … but also Nangis cheese, Montereau, Coulommiers and all the local white rind soft cheeses … as well of course as cheeses from the 4 corners of France and the world.

Bugey wine gets its colours

On 28 May, the wines of Bugey were promoted from a VDQS denomination (obtained in 1958) to attain AOC (PDO) status – a significant step up. It's a PDO with a variety of different vintages – I got the list from their official website which details their individual qualities – in French if you care to dip in:

AOC Bugey        AOC Bugey Manicle    AOC Bugey Montagnieu

AOC Roussette de Bugey Montaignieu         AOC Roussette de Bugey Virieu-le-Grand

AOC Bugey mousseux or pétillant (whites and rosés) = various sparkling wines

AOC Roussette de Bugey    

AOC Bugey mousseux or pétillant Cerdon

AOC Bugey mousseux or pétillant Montagnieu

A few weeks back during a tasting session in Lyon – at Cavavin St Georges on quai Fulchiron – I sampled with delight a Brie de Meaux (from chez Dongé) with a sparkling Montagnieu from the Bonnard domain. Roussette + Chardonnay. A moment of great pleasure … enjoyed in moderation, of course.

These wines were honoured in the past few days at the 23^rd Entretiens de Bellay gathering, focussing as always on the primordial subject of "Taste". A subject of great concern in this part of the country as the famous gastronome Brillat Savarin, who wrote a famous book in 1825 called "The Aphorisms of Taste" (with the famous sentence : "A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye."), came from these parts. It promised to be an inspiring event with the participation of Philippe Marchenay and Laurence Bérard, two researchers from the eco-anthropological and ethno-biological laboratory of the CNRS Research Institute, Jean-François Clément from ACTILAIT- Maisons du Goût and a number of chefs from Michelin starred establishments, such as Christophe MARGUIN, President of the Toques Blanches of Lyon.