My summer trip to the Jura, compliments of the Comte Cheese USA Association was a dream come true. I got to hang out with a group of cheese and travel lovers, pet some special cows (the true cheese “makers”), learn from cheesemakers and affineurs and spend at least six hours a day eating and drinking French foods and wines… trust me when I say… it doesn’t get any better than this.
You can purchase Comte AOP online by clicking here.
The Jura region of France , part of the Franche-Comte region, is a strip of France that runs north to south along the border between France and Switzerland. It lays between the Rhone and Rhine basins and contributes to the watershed of both. To learn more about the region and things to do and see, check out this page.
My trip to the Jura began with a flight into Geneva (via Paris). As with most US to Europe flights, you leave late in day and arrive in Europe in the morning.
Geneva was in the grips of a heat wave that would cause Al Gore to say “I told you so”. It was in the high 90s and humid, a combination of weather that doesn’t agree with me… which of course makes one wonder why I live in Georgia… another story, another day.
Our “guide” in addition to knowing all things Comte AOP, he also is a wine aficionado, a talent that made every meal more enjoyable (he also had a wicked sense of humor). Lunch and dinner everyday were a food and wine experience. A glass of wine before the meal known as an aperitif; another wine with the meal and a third wine after the meal. Each meal lasted no less than two hours and sometimes, especially the evening meal, lingered on for three hours. We were a small group of seven which made conversation easy and diverse. Check out this drip-free, inexpensive wine pouring spout
My knowledge of wine is limited; I know pairing basics but little beyond that (and what I like). Tasting a variety of wines, primarily made in The Jura and rarely, if ever exported, opened me up to a new world of aromas and nuanced flavors. I do not remember many of the names but made a quick video of the pictures of some of the bottles. (If you search for “Wines of The Jura” on youtube, you can learn more about these exceptional wines.) I came home with an appreciation of the French Roses and now Roses are my favorite evening drink to enjoy while relaxing with The Man.
The meals were entertaining and adventurous. My coming-of-age as a “foodie” had been in California in the 80s and 90s when fois gras was prohibited, which meant I had never tasted it. I expected it to be more of a pate consistency and wasn’t that crazy about it. The same with veal; in my mind I had pictures of tiny calves in dark pens being force-fed grains to fatten their livers for our consumption. I’m not sure if my preconceived beliefs contributed to my lack of being wowed… but wowed I was not. I’ll go for prime ribeye from an adult cow any day of the week.
That being said, the meals were always presented with flourish and the complexity of the dishes delightful, down to the dressings on the local greens. Each course was an experience and when I look at the pictures, fond memories return.
I fell in love with morels… oh my, oh my… morels… I came home and immediately ordered dry ones to have in the cupboard (not as tantalizing as the fresh in The Jura, but close enough for NE Georgia).
Another local discovery was Rosti, a potato dish similar to hash browns but so much better. Crispy and crunchy on the outside and creamy on the inside without being starchy. I read an article on the “art” of making rosti in The Guardian, which should be easy, but it’s quite complicated. Not in the ingredients but getting the end product to taste like the way it tasted in The Jura. From what I learned wandering around the internet, Rosti originated in Switzerland, which was only a stone’s throw from wherever we were in The Jura.
One thing we all loved were the potato dishes. If one person ordered fries or rosti or roasted or mashed, a bowl large enough to satisfy the entire table was delivered. One meal, the kitchen sent out two different types of potatoes in gorgeous, well-used copper pots for all of us to share. I’m not sure why, but every potato dish I sampled in France tasted better than the same in the US. I assume France has a secret to growing potatoes that Idaho needs to check out.
My favorite meal was at a tiny bed and breakfast “along the Comte Trail”, “La Petite Echelle“.(The Small Scale) Built in the 17th Century and recently a Nunnery offering refuge for convalescing soldiers. When the current owner purchased the property from the nuns, it was stipulated that it must continue to offer refuge for travelers. Yurts are scattered throughout the property and rooms are available in the small main building. The toilets are outside; this is indeed “small scale” and yet, the meal was sublime. The owner/chef allowed us into the kitchen to participate in cooking the meal. He prepared the best fondue I have ever had and rosti along with sausage on a yeast bread, salad – I could eat there everyday from here to the end of time.
You can purchase Comte AOP online by clicking here.
Another treat was at the last Comte AOP farm we visited. Jean-Louis Charbonnel, who left the hospitality industry to become a farmer, also hosted a bed and breakfast with his mother. In addition to his farm duties, he also was the chef preparing both a peasant/family-style dinner and breakfast. Another wonderful meal.
Most of the dishes were simple in terms of ingredients but complex in how the chefs coaxed out the flavor profiles. I ate more than usual and feared I would outgrow my clothes while there… and yet I came home weighing the same as when as I departed… we did walk a lot… but still…
Most meals included a cheese course after the entree and when there was cheese, there was Comte and Morbier and sometimes “farmer” cheeses specific to the village or surrounding areas. We were able to score Bleu de Gex one meal, but it was not common. And Mont d’Or was out of season, although we did travel through the Village bearing its name.
In addition to visiting farms and enjoying amazing foods and wines, we visited the Montagnon Farm Museum. It was a museum and business dedicated to the art of cured meats. The front part of the museum was filled with cases of locally grown and cured meats. The owner took us into his smoke room filled with hanging hams, charred and curing. The other side of the building was a museum dedicated to the history of the region, laid out as an old farm house would have looked. One of my traveling companions wrote about this visit on her website, Travel With Marilyn, in more detail. (And with better photos than i captured.)
You can purchase Comte AOP online by clicking here.
But the best part of the trip were the people we met. For decades, I had been “warned” how rude and unfriendly the French are. One of the “old saws” made to rebuff the French “snootiness” I heard was “If it weren’t for us, the French would be speaking German”. As a result (and having never been to France), I feared my lack of speaking the language would be an additional obstacle and draw more derision from people I had been taught considered all of us “Ugly Americans”…
Nothing could have been further from the truth… every village, restaurant, cheese shop or farm we visited, we were welcomed with open arms. My lack of speaking English was mostly a “nothing burger” for two reasons; many French, especially the young people, speak passable to fluent English, or someone with them speaks enough English that communicating was easy. (Of course, our “guide”, was French and also translated when we visited farms and cheesemakers, where it was easier to share lots of information in a short amount of time.) I’ll go into more when I write about my week in Paris.
We were on a press tour, so you would expect those we visited to be friendly and accommodating but we found the waiters and bartenders and innkeepers to be friendly and helpful… with one funny exception. I mentioned above that our guide has a wicked sense of humor and it was never more apparent than when the wait service was involved. Although he is French, he has lived in the US long enough to expect the faster service found in America. The second evening of the tour, we stayed in a swanky spa resort with a Michelin-starred restaurant. Our guide asked the waiter to explain the menu to us, he declined telling our guide to explain it to us in English. Perhaps he was embarrassed by his level of speaking English but we got the impression that he didn’t want to be “bothered”. The rest of the meal our guide took cute jabs at him and after much prodding, the cheese cart was delivered. As the cart arrived, we played the theme from Chariots of Fire to welcome it… most likely the staff didn’t appreciate our humor but we did…
You can purchase Comte AOP online by clicking here.
The tour was four full days with little time for playing and exploring all that The Jura has to offer. We did enjoy an afternoon cruise on Lac Saint Point and visited Belvédère de Consolation (another review by my traveling companion, Marilyn Jones). I hope to return someday to explore on my own.
In addition to being an American Cheese Society Certified Cheese Professional, I am a Certified ServSafe Food Production Manager with certifications that also include ServSafe Certified Instructor and Proctor. I am available for cheese events, cheese program development, cheese training, food safety training and 3rd party food safety auditing. See my About Me and Resume pages for more details or call me at 360 921 9908 to discuss availability.
As an authorized Amazon Influencer, there are affiliate links within this posting which can result in income for me. Please visit my Amazon Storefront; your support contributes to the overhead required to keep this website alive and updated.
Follow me on:
You must be logged in to post a comment.