Reblochon Country

No trip to the Alps would be complete without a sojourn to Reblochon country. Here is where they make the award-winning Reblochon cheeses (as well as others), from the same day's milking. Trust me, it's sublime.

We ventured up into the mountains while staying on Lake Annecy to visit several farms where they not only happily sold us their cheese but took the time to take us on a personal tour of their cheese-making facilities. Many of these farmers, we were told, spend eight or more hours a day, each day, every day, making these cheeses, without a single day off. One farm we stopped at said they sell 20% of their cheeses just to those of us who make a point of personally stopping by the farm; the rest are sold in local supermarkets or shipped further afield.

We saw not only the cheeses in their various stages of formation but also met the 'manufacturers' of the milk. (One not so subtly reminded me they have the right of way on the road, bumping my car hard enough to fold the rearview mirror against my door.)

I purchased several bars of homemade raw milk butter but with my plans to move on to Italy and Provence, I could not stock up as I would have otherwise liked to do. Still, the few I bought would last me well to the end of the nearly five-week vacation. It's just the thing spread thickly on a warm, crusty baguette for breakfast alongside a steaming cup of café au lait!