Comté, the Very Best of French Cheese?

Fruity or salty, young or mature, sliced or grated: Comté cheese appeals to all! The pride and joy the Franche-Comté region, it is now the best-selling PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) cheese in France – with an annual production of 60,000 tons. Today, its overproduction needs to be questioned.

Result of an ancestral craftsmanship, Comté cheese is produced in a restricted, regulated area. In fact, the very name of “Comté” is a guarantee of quality. In the span of 30 years, production has doubled! So much so that this hard cheese is now victim of its own success: the intensification of its production exerts detrimental effects on nature – particularly on the region’s rivers. Aware of the stakes involved, some farmers are advocating a return to peasantry and tradition.

From the dairy farm to our plate, passing by the maturing cellars and the “fruitières”, we retrace the route of Comté cheese and explore potential solutions to limit its environmental impact.