Today, a little driving in the French countryside. Ok, a lot of driving -- plenty of barely-two-lane country roads, bordered by fields of wheat or cows, centuries-old stone buildings and thick, green hedgerows. Plenty of roundabouts to navigate, so we were thankful (most of the time) for our Garmin GPS. We'd decided to search-out some of the products this Normandie countryside is famous for: Camembert cheese and calvados (apple brandy). Our first stop was a tiny family farm, which has windows in its cheese-processing building so that you can view the cheese-making process. Here, Monsieur Durand is ladling curds and whey into molds. We have seen firmer cheese being made previously, and it is striking how loose/soft these curds are. With firm (cheddar-type) cheese, the curds are like little chunks. With camembert, you can barely discern the curds from the whey at this stage -- it almost looks like custard.
Later, when the curds have drained from the cheeses, they are unmolded and placed on racks to age. They spend several weeks aging while they are salted, ripened and matured. Fromagerie Durand is the last small family-owned-and-operated raw-milk (non-pasteurised) camembert Fromagerie et Ferme (farms) in in the village of Camembert. Big factories are taking-over here, just like back at home in the U.S., and have changed the process by using pasteurised milk (big factories cannot ensure the safety of their products when they use unpasteurised milk -- they like the control of uniformity). This means that the big firms are not allowed to use the prized label, AOC (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée) or controlled designation of origin. This is a label used in France to specify exactly where products come from, where their ingredients are sourced and how exactly they are produced. There are strict quality controls and rules for anyone who wishes to use the label. It is used for many agricultural products, such as cheese, wine and calvados.
We purchased a small round of camembert and a bottle of local apple cider (the non-alcohol kind) for our picnic today. We had bread from a boulangerie, and stopped to pick-up some fruit along the way. All around the French countryside, you can find areas to pull-off of the road and have a picnic (usually a sign will alert you to small picnic areas with two or three picnic tables and some trees).
After lunch, we ventured out to another of Normandie's important producers, the pommeau and calvados distillery, Château de Breuil, which is still located on the land owned (and lived-on) by the Breuil family. The château and grounds are amazing (looks like a fairy-tale), and the tour of the distillery was fascinating.
Below: part of the family estate which is still lived-in (and cannot be toured). Just a little country place.
The calvados (apple brandy) is produced from apples grown on the estate as well as in local Normandie orchards. In order for the calvados to carry the prestigious "AOC Pays d'Auge" (even more prestigious than an AOC label), it must be made of local cider apples and distilled twice under very strict rules. After pressing and distillation, the calvados (a digestive) is moved to oak barrels for aging. Its alcohol content is carefully monitored, and the barrels are blended to maintain a uniform taste.
The aging building is part of the estate -- and like the estate, it was built in the 16th and 17th centuries. The barrels are used many times, depending on the individual characteristics of that barrel. I think our tour guide said that the oldest one currently in use is about 100 years old.
A special vintage, from 2000, this one will not be blended with the calvados from other years.
At the end of the tour, we tasted pommeau, an aperitif made on the estate (lower in alcohol than calvados), as well as a 15-year-old calvados (could have peeled paint off of the walls, it was super-strong, at least for a lightweight like myself), and a 25-year-old calvados (which was far smoother). As the calvados sits in the oak barrels, some of the alcohol evaporates through the wood (this lost amount is called "the angels' share") while the oak flavor imparts a smoothness. We decided to purchase a bottle of the pommeau to bring home.
We ended our day with a visit to William the Conqueror's castle (he lived from 1028-1087), Château de Falaise, in Falaise, Normandie. He was the first Norman king of England, from 1066 until his death. Though the impressive structure, set on a hill overlooking the old town and modern city, is partially ruined, much of the structure remains. Visitors are given tablets, which allow you to scan the room you are in. When you look at the room through the tablet, you can see it as it would have been painted and decorated back during the time it was used by William. Technology brings it to life!
William, himself:
There was a great view of the city from the castle:
Mark enjoyed seeing all of the castle, while I waited on the lower floors. Unfortunately, earlier in the day I had twisted my ankle on a wobbly cobblestone (I like to call it a "wobblestone"), fallen and scraped my leg. While the scrape was my initial concern, it turned-out that the ankle/foot pain was more of a problem. We stopped at a market on the way back to the B&B, and Mark got some frozen peas to use as a cold compress. It really helped me to feel better.
This photo was taken after I'd cleaned it up and applied neosporine ointment. I'd been so careful during the trip, too. Always being extra-vigillant on stairs, cobblestones and the like. I knew that one wrong step could be the ruin of my time in France. Fortunately, this happened near the end off the trip, when we had a car, and it wasn't too bad!
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