Beaufort Cheesemaking

Unless you’re a keen skier the Beaufortain may not sound instantly familiar, but this tiny area of Savoie, tucked away between Albertville and Mont-Blanc, is without doubt one of the most beautiful corners of France. Its peaceful Alpine valley setting is hardly the kind of place that you’ll stumble upon by chance unless, like me, you decide to follow the legendary Route des Grandes Alpes, Europe’s grand touring route par excellence. Beaufort feels in both spirit and scale much more like a village than a town, with a resident population of around 4,000 – roughly equal to that of the dairy cattle who graze the surrounding pastures.

A taste for the good things…

Despite which, Beaufort has achieved global celebrity among food-lovers as the production centre of the nutty, Gruyère-style cheese which in 1968 was awarded the coveted AOC (Apellation d’Origine Controlée) status. Praise indeed. Most of the annual output is produced in Beaufort’s imposing Laiterie Co-operative, which represents no fewer than 130 local dairy farmers and employs traditional methods to create a range mature of cheeses. AOC accreditation assures the quality and authenticity of the product, as well as its place of origin – if the label says ‘Beaufort’ then it can only have come from right here in the Beaufortain.

For the most demanding connoisseurs, however, there’s simply nothing to compare with the complex flavours of cheeses created on the mountains themselves by a handful of artisan producers. Cheeses produced in the mid-mountain pastures (or montagnettes) between June and October qualify for the official title of ‘Beaufort Alpage d’Eté’ and have subtle variations in their flavours, influenced by herbs and wildflowers flourishing among the grass on which the cattle graze. Most highly-prized of all is ‘Beaufort Chalet d’Alpage’, produced by time-honoured traditional methods in remote settings above 1500 metres altitude. The most celebrated artisan producer is Jean-Pierre Blanc, who received the ultimate accolade of a Gold Medal in Paris for his own lovingly-crafted ‘Beaufort Chalet d’Alpage’.

The life of an Alpagiste

Jean-Pierre Blanc is a true alpagiste, who still follows the age-old pattern of working established by his forebears. In winter the climate at high altitudes is harsh, so until the snow has melted and the grass reappears the cattle live safe and snug in barns on the family farm, on the valley floor. Cheeses produced during this period (typically between November and May) are simply termed ‘Beaufort’. When the springtime thaw begins the cattle are herded to pastures higher up the valley sides where they can enjoy the fresh spring grass (the fertile seasonal grazing areas being known as alpages).
Accompanying his herd, or troupeau, is Jean-Pierre, who from now until the autumn will live and continue making his cheeses in a succession of chalet-style stone buildings owned by generations of his family.
As the snow-line continues to retreat the cattle are moved to successively higher locations up the mountain, and Jean-Pierre transfers to his next chalet, perpetuating the old tradition of la transhumance which is still common in mountain areas including the Alps and Pyrénées.

The work begins…

First the milk is poured into a vast copper cauldron or chaudron capable of holding around three thousand litres and heated to 33ºC by means a simple ring-shaped burner connected to a large gas cylinder. After filtering and further gentle heating, the milk receives a small amount of natural calf-rennet, and the action of the enzymes triggers a process of coagulation. After about thirty minutes the resulting curds are sliced into small pieces, to eliminate much of the water, using a multi-wire cutter known as la tranche-caillé. The cauldron is then heated to 52ºC, while the contents are stirred continuously. “The important thing is to maintain the temperature – I keep checking the texture by hand for the curds gradually dry out until eventually I can feel the texture I’m looking for. It’s something you learn by experience.”

During this crucial stage (known as brassage sur le feu) Jean-Pierre checks both texture and colour repeatedly until he’s satisfied that the precise moment has come for the heating to stop and the ‘cooked’ cheese removed for pressing. Doing so is a delicate exercise requiring two people, who pass a muslin cloth supported by a pliable wooden hoop beneath the heavy cheese mixture, to scoop up the contents. This is then hoisted on a pulley to allow the liquid to drain through the muslin, after which the remaining cheese solids are ready to be placed, still in the muslin, into timber moulds, pressed under heavy weights and allowed to solidify. The process continues until all the solids have been removed, and between six and eight of the distinctive, convex-sided cheeses or tommes have been produced.

The work isn’t over yet, however. The remaining liquid is poured into milk churns (to be fed to the appreciative pigs which Jean-Pierre rears), the copper cauldron scrupulously cleaned and the muslin sheets washed and hung out to dry. Once the cheeses have hardened they can be removed from the moulds and carried out to a nearby stone building where the maturing stage or afinage can commence. It’s physically demanding work, not least since the cheeses can weigh up to 70kg, but Jean-Pierre is by now well accustomed to carrying his precious creations.