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Cheese dairies
27/03/2006 - Lu 3179 fois
From the moment the bailiwick of Gex was annexed to France in 1601 the region went through a time of long-lasting peace and prosperity. The more extensive high mountain pastures due to the new boom in cattle raising and the spread from the Swiss Jura of the technique for making gruyere cheese were to contribute to the development of the cheese dairies. These then started to spread along the valley floor and in the plain along the lines of the mountain pasture chalets, especially after the mid-18th century. It was at this time that the cheese business increased. Cheese became the most important source of wealth in the mountains.
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In a cheese dairy, the fruit of the partners' labour - here the milk - is collected so as to make the cheese together. These were the first forms of cooperatives.
The main cheese made was the Vachelin. In the 19th century this word was replaced by gruyère (Comté). In Septmoncel, grey, blue or even veined cheeses were made owing to the presence of blue mould that characterized this type of cheese. It was called the Septmoncel, or Bleu du Haut-Jura. It was to become the Bleu de Gex. Its origin dates back to the 13th century when the monks from the Abbey of St-Claude introduced cheese-making techniques into the Jura.
These two types of cheese, Bleu de Gex and Comté, have the appellation d'origine controlée label guaranteeing quality and the Valley de la Valserine lies within the production area. At the Chézery cooperative, visits are laid on to allow people to see the techniques used for making the cheeses.
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