My first taste of the cheese Laguiole was unforgettable. I was told that part of the reason it tastes so unique is that it's still being aged in burons, small huts, in the mountains of the Aubrac region in France. Unfortunately, EU rules stipulate that cheese be made and aged in temperature regulated facilities; the burons are not approved. I am fascinated by the burons and the buronniers that inhabite them.
At the end of the seventeenth century, these fragile wooden cabins made with clods of earth started to be made with granite and basalt stone. The buron was used from May to October, during the "estive" period when the cattle and sheep are brought to higher mountain pastures to graze. Set near a spring, the buron was built on rising ground for protection against strong winds and storms.
The buron was divided into two rooms: one for the cowherd and the other for his assistant, the boutillier. It was in the latter that cheese was made. The room was vaulted and dark and had a fireplace and a small window, the fenestrou. It's incredibly rare to find cheeses made in burons. Last winter I tried an exquisite hand-made Gruyère that was produced in a small buron in the Alps. I'm curious to find out more information about these existing buronniers and how they have managed to preserve their traditions.
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