Comt� Marcel Petite - Cheese Course

by Max Shrem, Posted Feb 24th 2009 @ 12:00PM

Comté is one of the most popular cheeses in France. And, there are many different kinds ranging from the industrial to the artisanal. Comté Marcel Petite is produced by some of the best affineurs in France. They have been perfecting the art of aging Comté since 1840. In 1934, Marcel Petite took over the operation and passed down his trade to his son François.

Comté is produced in the gorgeously lush green Jura region of France. In the '60s, Marcel Petite took over a 19th-century fortress - Fort Saint-Antoine - where he started to age wheels of his Comté. Marcel Petite revolutionized the aging process of this cheese by aging them for longer periods of time at lower temperatures.

At Fort Saint-Antoine, Claude, the head cheesemonger, leads a staff of five tasters, who spend each day sampling about 300 wheels of cheese to best determine how to proceed with each individual wheel. After tasting, they decide how much longer they're going to age each of these wheels. It's this process with painstaking attention to detail that makes Comté Marcel Petite some of the best in the world. For the largest selection sold in the U.S., head directly to Formaggio Kitchen.

Filed Under: Cheese Course, Food Politics, Ingredients
Tags: cheese, cheese course, CheeseCourse, comte, france, french cheese, FrenchCheese