Saving the best till last.

I said I'd get to it and here I am. Le fromage!

This is where the magic happens. It's hard to believe that this 'white gold' starts with these adorable, horned creatures. Obviously, if I'm going to explain the cheese process, I have to begin with the goats.

The kids above are three of sixteen kids, I had the pleasure of meeting while on the farm. Nicolas tells me that my sudden love of kittens is nothing compared to what I will feel when I see newborn kids for the first time... I'll be back in February with my fingers crossed for baby cuddles!

Working with kids is like working with kids. They play like children and have a cry just like children, which sends shivers down your spine. Below, you can see Lucile and I (trying) catching the kids one at a time to weigh them to check whether they're growing healthily. (Alright, I admit I'm not doing much here.)

So the goats are milked (not the kids, of course), as I've told in other posts, and depending on which stage of the year it is, there's either more or less milk. Over Winter there's no milk, the goats are (hopefully) all expecting and the cute little kids will arrive early next year.

 

The milk is then lugged up the hill to the fromagerie (cheese lab). Now that is where the magic happens, actually. Here's the picture-process, without giving away too many trade secrets. ;)

The entrance.

 The milk is re-filtered.

It is then poured into a large bowl, where it's mixed with bacteria and rennet (an enzyme produced in goats' stomachs). After 24 hours, the milk separates into two parts: whey protein (the liquid you can see below) and what is left underneath is cheese!

The moulds are prepared and the cheese is scooped into them with a ladle.

The moulds are left to drain on the table and constantly flipped. When the whey has drained out, you're left with delicious cheese.

There are endless possibilities of how the cheese can be prepared. It's simply a matter of time and herbs.

 

Finally, the cheese is sold. The process from milk to fresh cheese takes 3-4 days and, even after having seen it for myself, I'm amazed at it's simplicity.

Special thanks go to Victoria for the brilliant photos of hers which I used here. By the time I got around to taking pictures, the farm was muddy, the skies were grey and there was very little cheese left to photograph! Just as predicted, Vic, you took the sun with you!

And, of course, Lucile. Without whom I wouldn't have made such incredible discoveries.