About 30 g well aged comté
A big, hard mountain cheese from the Jura, made from raw cow's milk — sweet, nutty and brothy young, deeper and crunchy with crystals after 18 months or more.
Kinds
- Young (6–12 months)
- Supple and milky; melts smoothly.
- Aged (18–36 months)
- Savoury, crystalline, toasted-nut — for eating and grating.
- Summer and winter milk
- Summer wheels, from pasture, are yellower and more floral; winter ones, from hay, paler and nuttier.
If you can't find it
Cheese shops and good supermarkets.
1Gruyère
The same weight
You lose very little — the closest there is.
Knowing it
- Where to buy
- Cheese shops — ask the age, and taste it. Comté varies wheel to wheel more than most hard cheeses.
- Worth knowing
- For a gratin, fondue or soufflé, a medium Comté of around 12 months melts best; very old ones can go grainy and oily when heated.