Thursday, May 17 and Friday, May 18 being off in France, I took the train Wednesday evening to my native region of Auvergne, located exactly in the center of the country to visit my uncle and aunt Patrick and Sylviane. Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day, so we drove to Saint Nectaire, a small commune (about 800 inhabitants) in the Puy de Dôme department. Cheese has been made in Auvergne since at least the 17th century. The Saint Nectaire cheese's name comes from the Marshal of Senneterre (a linguistic corruption of "Saint Nectaire"), who served it at the table of Louis XIV. The Marshal of Senneterre is also responsible for the introduction of other cheeses.
Saint-Nectaire is a pressed, uncooked cheese made from cow's milk, made from either pasteurized or unpasteurized milk. It is circular in shape, around 21 cm in diameter and 5 cm in height, and weighing around 1.7 kg. Around 15 litres of milk are required to make one cheese, and the final product is at least 45% fat as a percentage of dry matter. It is the first "farmer" AOC cheese (controlled designation of origin) in France with 6.000 tons produced each year.
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