Oh no, Comté is my favorite cheese, this mean that the price will rise a lot in the coming months, at least in France.
Outside France, it this cheese popular? Where do you usually find it?
Yes. At my cheesemonger’s . . .
Interesting that cheese is the most stolen food product in the world. No wonder they call it dairy crack.
I’d find it readily at any major UK supermarket, so it must be popular otherwise they wouldnt stock it. It’s not a cheese I would regularly buy but that’s because I generally prefer British cheeses.
It’s an interesting observation. I don’t know what they are selling in your supermarket. In fact, the Comté sold in French supermarket on shelves is not interesting because they are generally very young in age 4-10 months. We always buy ours in the cheese store, and starting from 24 month, they started to develop a sweet smelling, aromatic and nutty favour. 3 years or older which is much more difficult to find but the taste is much more intense and smokey.
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15 -20 months aging (Tesco)
Still not as old (aged) as 24-36 months . . . .
So true.
Hmm…some pretty serious math miscalculations here…
€40,000 worth of Comte, and there’s 4 tonnes= 4000kg of cheese
That’s €10 per kg, not €40
That further breaks down to a little under €5/pound-- not exactly a high-end Comte.(But an AOC one, and a damned shame to have it go missing)
It’s 100 wheels, the fromagerie says, but not particularly easy to sell, as the molds are all individually marked, and transfer the markings to the cheese.
here’s the French press report: http://www.bfmtv.com/societe/doubs-le-gang-des-meules-derobe-4-tonnes-de-comte-927837.html
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Thx for the link. I think they are talking about the wholesale price than the retail price 
. The cheese maker is called Napiot, we can check his price. I didn’t know that each cheese has a unique number and can be traced.
Checked on their online website, the aged one costed 16.5 €/kg, i bought the really good aged for at least twice and more. Want to find cheaper but couldn’t.
Presumably that’s wholesale price. Retail in the UK would be around €21 per kilo.
I get the wholesale thing, but that’s not hiw thr article reads.
At my fromager when we lived in France, aged Comté was in the €16-20/kg range.
You are totally right ! Yesterday, I was buying some aged Comté (47,5€ a kilo - 36 months, the 42 months was sold out instantly) directly from a quality producer from Jura in a food show. I asked him about this heist. He laughed, and said luckily the thieves had chosen to steal some bad Comté, probably because it was easy to steal! He said his cheese was locked up securely.
He went on to talk about the specifications of AOC* Comté. Each wheel of cheese is about 45-47 kg, using about 500L of milk. The cows are milked twice a day manually and ship directly to the production site. He said once there was a smart guy, he designed and manufactured a machine to milk the cows. His cheese was discredited.
- People who are interested can read more about AOC here.
Trying really hard to not get indignant here – but really, no need to serve up a link on a silver platter to a pablum definition of AOP/AOC. I understand what they are and why they exist.
Ooops. Actually, the second part of the answer is not meant for you. Should do 2 posts , I try talk about AOC for the people who are curious what they are. (to encourage discussion). I’m replying to the calculation you did to conclude the cheese wasn’t a good one. Sorry if you feel aggressed.
No worries – thanks for the clarification.
Thanks for the link - I’m presuming it was intended for Jason & me. Appreciated, although I do know about PDO (AOC) - we have a growing number of PDO status foods in the UK, including several of our cheeses - for info -
Beacon Fell Traditional Lancashire
Dorset Blue
Exmoor Blue
Single Gloucester
Staffordshire
Swaledale
West Country Farmhouse Cheddar
Yorkshire Wensleydale
The two blues and the Wensleydale have PGI status, the others PDO
Not particularly too, as you are from UK and Jason is a specialist in wine, you know terroir. It’s more for those who read without posting or lurkers. I guess I was still under shock from the fact that the Europe board vanished and integrated with the “World” board! (Luckily, it’s back now!)
Question apart, does the US has labels like this? From what I read, it seems they are getting aware of this but quite recently.
After 40+ years in the wine trade, I think I have a reasonably good understanding how the French system of Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) works – both for wine and for food . . . not to mention the Italian system of Denominazione di origins controllata/(Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOC/DOCG); the Spanish Denominacion de Origin (as well as Denominación de Origen Calificada [Rioja] and Denominacio d’Origen Qualificada [Catalan]); the Denominação de Origem Controlada of Portugal; as well as the PGI/PDO status. This is not to say I know all of the regulations inside and out; not even the powers that be within the EU know them! But I have a working familiarity with many specific regs, and a more than basic understanding of the general system. ;^)
