Comte Cheese: Everything You Need to Know (2024)

FAQs

What are some interesting facts about Comté cheese? ›

Around 1.7 million wheels of comté cheese are produced every year, each weighing around 40 kg / 88 lbs. Each cheese requires 450 litres / 119 US gallons of milk. Since one cow gives about 20 litres / 5.3 gallons of milk a day, 23 cows are needed to make one cheese.

Comté is sold at several different ages: During aging, the affineur must carefully calibrate the temperature and humidity of the cheese to develop the right kind of bacteria that will lead to the richest flavor development. Wheels are evaluated for flavor and aroma and graded to be sold or matured further.

Comté cheese is made in the Jura Massif region of eastern France from unpasteurized cow's milk. It is a semi-hard cheese, pale yellow in color, with a texture that ranges from open, supple, and grainy for younger cheeses to dense, firm, and crystalline for more aged cheeses.

As a substitute for Comté, you will fair no better than the Swiss Gruyère. For a different take, Fontina proves a worthy replacement for Comté. It also boasts mild tones of browned butter and roasted nuts, with a dense texture ideal for melting.

Milk must be made into cheese within 24 hours maximum of the earliest milking. Only natural ferments must be used to transform the milk into curds. Wheels must be aged on spruce boards. Minimum aging is 4 months, generally 6-18 months and sometimes even longer.

Grated Comté can be incorporated into all sorts of things – scones, pancakes, bread rolls and more – giving your baked goods a rich, cheesy flavour. Sprinkle a little more Comté over the top for a crispy, caramelised cheesy crust that will definitely win you friends. The possibilities are almost endless.

Technically rinds on comte and rinded blues are totally edible but they can impart a bitter flavour. Cheese is a natural product, and from time to time you can expect some blooms and moulds to develop on the outside, this is perfectly natural. Some people prefer not to eat the rind at all.

Comté is rich in protein and has a wide variety of amino acids. In fact, it contains all of the “essential” amino acids, which are not produced by humans in sufficient quantities but which are vital for cell construction, for proper functioning of the immune system and for proper healing of body tissue.

Absorbing the naturally filtered moisture from cracks in the walls, the Comté achieves its unique taste and aromatic nature. Anywhere from four to 24 months can be spent maturing in the dark caves of the Massif du Jura mountainsides, finally creating a picture-perfect wheel of Comté cheese.

However, in Switzerland itself more Gruyère is consumed, and in continental Europe Gruyère, a name with a considerably longer history, tends to be thought of as the archetypal Swiss cheese, with for example "Gruyère de Comté" being another name for Comté.

What milk is used for Comté cheese? ›

Comté is a hard alpine-style cheese, made from unpasteurised cow's milk in the Franche-Comté region of Eastern France. It is always made using the milk from Montbéliarde cattle or French Simmental cows (or a cross-breed of the two).

Comté, a semi-hard lightly washed rind from France's Jura region, is a sultry, sweet wheel with flavors of butter, toasted walnuts, caramel, and from time to time, notes of caramel or beef. I would have sooner call a rose stinky than Comté.

French cheese owes its distinctive flavors to the concept of terroir, which encompasses the unique combination of soil, climate, and geographic location. It is this terroir that imparts distinct characteristics, giving each cheese its own sense of place.

Absorbing the naturally filtered moisture from cracks in the walls, the Comté achieves its unique taste and aromatic nature. Anywhere from four to 24 months can be spent maturing in the dark caves of the Massif du Jura mountainsides, finally creating a picture-perfect wheel of Comté cheese.

An incredibly rare cheese: Bleu de Termignon

What you are looking at in the photo above is the Hope diamond of french cheeses (not that if you eat it you become cursed, but because it's REALLY unique). Bleu de Termignon is incredibly rare.