Thursday 30 July 2015

Mainstreet & Mons in France - Part 1

Abondance Cow
It has been an exciting few months for the Mainstreet DELI, with The London Coffee Festival under our belts we geared ourselves up for the next foodie adventure - FRANCE! 

The UK leg of our French cheese suppliers MONs are based in Bermondsey, London (you may have spotted their stall at the famous Borough Market) and work with us to select the very best seasonal cheese to stock in the Mainstreet Deli. When they offered to take us to France to meet cheese makers and visit MONs HQ we jumped at the chance.

And so with the guidance, knowledge and expert linguistic skills of Jon Thrupp, Director of MONS Cheese UK, Bill Shaun and Phillippa left Mainstreet for the mountains... Here is part 1 of our French diary.
Day 1
Region - Alps
Location - Le Grand-Bornand
Cheese - Reblochon

We arrive in Geneva to meet Jon Thrupp and begin the drive over the Swiss-French border to Le Grand Bournand in the Alps. We meet Reblochon affineur Jean Pierre Missillier at his maturing rooms and spend some time tasting Reblochon with local wine which perfectly cuts through the richness of the cheese. Good start so far!
Reblochon maturing
Clockwise L-R: Jon, Bill & Shaun discuss maturation, Reblochon starting to develop colour,
tasting with Jean Pierre, Phillippa in the maturing room
We set off for the first farm of the day and meet a truly inspiring family of cheese makers. Their picturesque farmhouse, surrounded by the spectacular Alps is home to their Abondance herd, we arrive just as they are being called down from the mountains for milking. The sound of cow bells makes for a magical greeting. We watch the milking in the low ceilinged parlour and taste some freshly drawn milk - sweet and lactic!
Bill's portraits - father and Son, Jean Pierre Missilier
The two brothers walk us through the process of milking the cows, show us where the milk is then taken to be made into Reblochon, and also take us to meet the Heifers, (calves) in a small paddock outside. A sense of heritage, generational knowledge and routine guided by nature give the farm a real sense of calm.We then crowd around the family kitchen table with the family,  Jon translates the stories and we share tales of the merits of Scottish whisky! (followed by more local un-labelled wine!) and learn about the collection of elaborate cow bells hanging in the farmhouse. Such a privilege.
Beautiful sunshine over the farmhouse
Jon, Shaun and Phillippa documenting the milking process
The farmhouse -  cows below, people above!
The cows tails are tied up during milking
L-R: tasting fresh milk, buckets on their way to the cheese room, milking pumps
Ornate cow bells in the farmhouse
L-R: The sun bleached farmhouse, pouring the fresh milk into the Reblochon vat
Bonjour!
The Abondance herd coming down from the mountains


Fresh milk from parlour to production room

No comments:

Post a Comment