Melun Fete son Brie

In the US I was never a Brie cheese fan.

But eating Brie where it's made is a delicious shock to the taste buds.

The 1rst Saturday of October, Melun, just 20 minutes east of Paris, celebrates it's Brie. The festival takes over the town. Melun's shield design dates from the 15th century.

Last year I left empty handed. Not this time. The first Brie seller I came across, conveniently placed in front of a local fromager, immediately got my €€.

Soon as I turned a corner the whole fete going on.

Tent after tent offering Brie tastings, local honeys, rose 🌹 nectars, Champagne 🍾 Plus a lunch menu at restaurant 'Maryland'  - every course soup-to-nuts embellished with Brie. 

No less then the head of the brotherhood (le Confrerie des Chevaliers du Brie de Melun) was cutting 🔪 slices himself, wearing a Brie-like wheel of a hat.

Back in the cheese shop, less auspicious hands cut up my quarter slice.

Bries from all the surrounding towns, Coulommiers, Meaux are on offer with subtle aromas of cream, butter, hazelnuts and made from raw cow's milk.

Cows 🐄 always participate at the fete. Glasses of fresh milk 🥛 are handed out on the spot.

Cows 🐄 are everywhere in Melun. Hard to miss.

Rose syrups from nearby Provins.

I was tempted by the ready-cooked chestnuts, but 2 1/2 pounds is a lot of chestnuts for one person unless I have a chestnut 🌰 party.

I loved ❤️ the Champagne 🍾 jeroboams including a set of glass flutes 🥂

The Normans sacked Melun in 845. There's plenty of history here.

A different view of the Seine from a different bridge. Melun is in district Seine-et-Marne.

Back in Paris I ran out to catch my first 'Nuits Blanches' at yet to open musée Picasso.

When I got home my Brie was left out on the counter. Runny, almost soupy. Perfection on a slice of baguette 🥖 

There is nothing like eating French food bought at it's site of origin. Nothing compares.

Check out my Fromage 🧀 Map of Paris. 

         🥖 🧀🥖 🧀 🥖 In my Etsy shop.🧀 🥖 🧀 🥖 

La visite gourmande de la fromagerie Beillevaire.

 After my post on fromager Beillevaire (pronounced BAY-vaire) I inquired if I could visit the fromagerie. Perfect timing. There was a visite on Thursday. I was their guest to a tasting/degustation lunch.

I took the 7:23 TGV to Nantes in Loire-Atlantique Then a Transilian local train to Machecoul. voila 🧀 

We did not don gowns and masks like at Kaviari or do a walk-about. But we could look into the various processing areas from an upper floor. Our guide, Nathalie also gave us a slide show. Then detailed explanations of all the procedures.This is the yogurt area.

 The beurre  de barette is churned inside a rolling wooden barrel the old way on the left. A

The best tasting butter you can find in France in my brief experience👌

 Striations on the cheese are from turning it on metal racks (like Champagne bottles are turned). There is no set number of times a day. It depends on the look and feel of the cheese I was told.

Nathalie explains the types of cheese 🧀 found throughout France.

We had a mini tasting of 4 different lait cru (unpasteurized) cheeses from Beillevaire -Brun de Noix (with a walnut outer 'skin', a creamy chèvre 'Pont d'Yeu', Rocher Nantais,and a 'Secret de Couvent'.

Then off to lunch at the home of the parents of Pascal Beillevaire. My first cow sighting.

It's set in the marais or marches.

there were 15 of us so we ate family-style and good thing or I would have been "lost in translation". I sat next to Emanuelle, my own personal translator.

Our first plateau of cheeses were for 'Apero' time - no bread or butter is served with these. A Cantal, the Brun de Noix and the orange cheese is an aged Mimolette extra-vielle with hazelnuts and piped cream. Served with a Rose.

Second plateau was Somport Fermier, a 'Maki' de Chevre frais aux legumes croquants/crunchy vegetables, very unusual and tasty wrapped in seaweed, and a Rouleau de Beaulieu et olives confiturees(a Provencal olive jam to die for and a new product with Beillevaire hopefully coming out soon.

This is Emanuelle's plate who knows how to serve herself cheese beautifully. A pad of beurre a baratte is on the side in case you were wondering.

Oh la la.. Third plateau: Pitchounet, Fumaison et jambon de Vendee et Crème de Roquefort et figue cake (which will be available in December). The touch of Roquefort cream on top was the perfect contrast. Served with a red from Corbieres Domaine de La Roche Vive.

We got a little breather of fresh vegetables from the farm. I got up and went out to look at the marshes and get some oxygen. I was getting coma-'fro'maged.

Last course served with a different red - Cotes de Tongues Cepage Merlot, Grenache et Syrah. Saint-Felicien et viande de grison ( a special Swiss way of air-drying beef) and a Gruyere d'Alapage et pate de coing(a squiggle of quince cream on top).

You know I don't/can't drink much but I woke up immediately for the ris au lait au CARAMEL a toute a suite!

Maim!

Sadly I could not stay to visit the cows/vacheresse post-dejeuner. I had to catch a train back to Nantes and then back to Paris.

But the same cow as above is embossed on the Beurre de Baratte lait cru from Beillevaire and I can not tell you how many times I have visited that cow while writing this post or their wonderful chevre Pont d'Yeu. A tres Grand Merci to Beillevaire for giving me an unforgettable experience/une experience inoubliable vraiment! The degustation dejeuners is worth the traveling.  But there are 12-13 Beillevaire shops in Paris so do not miss out.