the cheese blog

Morbier (Les 3 Comtois)

Les 3 Comtois‘ makes a very straight-ahead version of Morbier. Les 3 Comptois is located in Poligny, in the Franche-Comté region. They have won many medals in the past few years for this Morbier.

The cheese is made from unpasteurized raw cows milk that is aged for 4 months. It has an orange colored, sticky washed rind, that is quite stinky with barnyard and vegetal aromas. It has a semi-soft paste, that is almost butter color and just about holds itself from oozing onto the plate. It has the traditional layer of charcoal (used to be ash) between the morning and evening milkings (although I doubt the mixed milkings tradition still exists). The Morbier has buttery-rich flavor with dominant mushroom and barnyard tastes.

This cheese was not entirely to my liking since it seemed one dimensional for a “stinky” cheese. Maybe I’m just not a Morbier kind of guy or wasn’t into the flavor that day. I’m sure I’ll try other Morbiers when the opportunity presents itself.