Bonjour French Market Friends,
This week in France, news spread of a farmer in the Auvergne, Michel Dupont who, while wandering through the fields 
of his farm, which has been in his family for several generations, noticed an unusual glistening in the mud at the bottom of a little stream. He used his fingers to prise up the shiny object, to find it was a nugget of gold the size of a walnut. This led to specialists coming to research his discovery. After intensive studies, it turns out that his farm is on a gold seam which is estimated to be about 150 million tons, worth about 4billion Euros. At the same time the government has told him that no mining activity can take place yet. In France the subsoil belongs to the State, only the surface belongs to the farmer. According to the State, if the mining is permitted (and there are a lot of regulations), he will only be entitled to 0.5% of the discovery. I did a quick calculation in ZAR, 4Billion Euros is about 84 billion Rands x0.5% = R420M. Not a bad return for finding a small gold seam. However, this sudden attention to his land has been very invasive for him and his family. It will be a long time before any mining can take place, so the only people who are likely to make a sma
ll fortune out of this, will be the lawyers.
On the bright side is the fact that living in Auvergne, Michel can enjoy the pleasure of the beautiful cheeses that are produced in this old volcanic region. It is said that there are more cows than humans in the mountain region. Over two thousand years ago the Gauls raised large dairy herds here, and were famous for their cheese production, even to the point where the Roman, Pliny the Elder, wrote about their cheese. The oldest of these is the Cantal cheese named after the Cantal
Mountains. This is a cheese that comes in a cylindrical shape, the “Petit” (small) Cantal weighs 8kgs, which we stock, and a regular sized Cantal is 40kgs. The cheese has a dry crust with a pungent aroma. The “Entre Deux” version (mid season) has a tart and buttery taste, the colour is a lovely golden shade. It is similar in style to a Cheddar. (The French insist that they taught the English how to make Cheddar). Serve Cantal with some crusty baguette, an onion preserve, and a bottle of Cotes du Rhone Pavillon St Pierre from our shop.
Another great cheese from the Auvergne region that we stock is the Saint Nectaire. This is a small wheel of cheese weighing about 1,5kg with an orange crust and medium firm centre. This is a washed rind cheese, and the edible crust is pungent. When it is fairly young the crust colour is orange, as it ages the crust changes to dark grey. The recommended wine pairing is a Gamay.
We also stock the famous blue cheeses from Auvergne, Fourme d’Ambert and Bleu d’Auvergne. The Fourme d’Ambert used to be made in a wooden bucket (called a Fourme) around the town of Ambert. The texture is medium firm, and the taste is a subtle, buttery blue cheese. The other classic cheese from the Auvergne is the Bleu (Blue) d’Auvergne. This comes in 2.5kg wheels. The centre is medium soft, and the
outside crust is dry. The flavour intensifies as it ages. Our Bleu is well aged. Trying pairing with toasted walnuts and pears and a Gerard Bertrand Rose, as there are no tannins in Rose wine. (tannins fight with the blue mould flavour).
Apart from
these beautiful cheeses from the Auvergne, we also have lots of cheese from across the French countryside to tempt you.
Also from Auvergne are the Lentilles du Puy from Puy en Velay. Due to the volcanic soil and the local climate in this valley, these green lentils are unique with thin skins, so no soaking overnight is required. These lentils are used in many wholesome and nutritious dishes.
For my recipe this week I decided to share a very simple recipe for a chocolate sauce/topping. This is called Gianduja, a chocolate sauce from Italy. The recipe is made by blending melted chocolate with toasted and ground hazelnuts. I made it for the first time and realised that the toasting and blending of the hazelnuts gives an addictive, irresistible smoky flavour, to this sauce, plus I added my own little ingredient. When the sauce is slightly warm you can spread it, once it cools then it turns really hard. You can use the sauce warm, spooned over ice cream, alongside a dessert, spread in a layer inside puff pastry or over a sponge cake.
This weekend is another long weekend, with Monday 28th being a holiday named Freedom Day, in recognition of our first General election when all South Africans had the right to vote for the first time. We will be open from 9-2 so you can come in buy a celebratory cheese platter. And the good news last night, was that the VAT increase has been cancelled, so we don’t have to re-set all our accounting systems.
I hope you have a great weekend and enjoy celebrating our special Freedom Day.
Regards
Suzanne and The French Market Team