Pelardon des Cévennes AOP - The Cheese Called Pelardon des Cévennes in French Cuisine.

from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com

   
 

Pelardon des Cévennes AOP
Photograph courtesy of La Fromagerie des Cevennes.
  
Pelardon or Pelardon des Cévennes AOP

  
These are tiny cheeses; a Pelardon cheese rarely weighs over 60 grams (2 ounces); this is a 28% fat, sharp-tasting goat's cheese made with unpasteurized milk; a single cheese rarely weighs over 60 grams (2 oz). When this cheese is sold after just 10 or 12 days of aging, it is a very mild cheese and will often be served warm with a salad; it's the older cheeses that have a bite that cheese lovers look for. The cheese has an AOP that guarantees that whoever makes the cheese it will be made in precisely the same way. Despite that, there are differences in the taste among the different producers; the taste is affected by the grasses, plants, and chestnuts that the goats find and eat in particular areas.

The cheese is made in and around the two tiny villages of Barre de Cévennes and Pompidou in the southeast of the department of Lozère in the region of Occitanie.   fI you are visiting this area of the Cévennes, then consider trying their cheese with their local merlot red wine, a Vin IGP de Pays des Cévennes.
   

Members of the production team.
Photograph courtesy of Isabelle Blanchemain
www.flickr.com/photos/isasza/33237551871/

  
The producers claim that their cheese has a two-thousand-year-old history that began when it was very much in demand in Rome, and Pliny does document a cheese from the same area. If today’s Pelardon is the same cheese that was ordered by Romans, I do not know. Still, in the 18th century, today’s cheese could be identified with the name Peraldou, and that eventually became Pelardon. 
   

The Pelardon cheese.
Photograph courtesy of the Syndicat des Producteurs de Pélardon

   

The department of Lozère, where Pelardon is produced, is beautiful and the place to go for visitors who want France without the hordes of tourists. Lozère also has less than 80,000 inhabitants; that's less than 15 people per square kilometer (6 people per square mile).  

 

The Cévennes is also home to other highly rated food products, including the Oignon Doux des Cévennes AOP, the sweet onion of the Cevennes, the Reinette du Vigan apples, and the Belles de Bancels potatoes.

   

Pelardon des Cévennes on French menus: 
   
Médaillon de Veau, Sauce au Pélardon des Cévennes – An oval or round escalope, a medallion, of veal served with a Pélardon des Cévennes cheese sauce.
 
Pélardon des Cévennes Grillé sur Lit de Roquette et Sorbet Yaourt au Lait de Brebis  - The Pélardon des Cévennes cheese grilled and served on a bed of rocket salad greens with a sorbet made of sheep’s milk yogurt.
  

A Pélardon des Cévennes tart fine.
The tart is made with a base of puff pastry with tomatoes, the Pélardon des Cévennes cheese, and the AOP sweet onions of the Cevennes.
Photograph courtesy of the Syndicat des Producteurs de Pélardon

 
Ravioles au Pélardon des Cévennes sur un Crémeux de Champignons au Bouillon de Poule – Ravioli filled with Pélardon des Cévennes cheese accompanied by a creamy mushroom sauce prepared in a light chicken broth.
   
Salade du Jardin et son Aumônière de Pélardon Rôti au Miel des Cévennes  - A garden salad served with a pouch of Pélardon des Cévennes cheese roasted with honey from the Cevennes.
   
Salade Verte, Pélardon des Cévennes Chaud sur Pain de Campagne  - A green salad served with hot  Pélardon des Cévennes cheese on country bread.
   

Follow the sign to the village of
Sainte Croix Vallée Française
On the first Sunday in May, every year, the Fête du Pélardon welcomes visitors in the village of Sainte Croix Vallée Française.
Photograph courtesy of the village of Sainte Croix Vallee Francaise.

   
Tarte Fine aux Oignons Doux des Cévennes et Pélardon Gratiné  - A tart made with a flat disk of puff pastry, and the sweet Cevennes AOP onions browned under the grill with the Pélardon des Cévennes cheese.
   
For the link to buying cheese in France and taking cheese home click here.

Traveling in Lozere.

Farming and tourism are the main occupations in Lozere. There is skiing in the winter, and in the summer, kayaking, hiking, and fishing. The rivers Lot, Tarn, Truyere, Allier Altier, Gardons, and Cevennes, run through the department and have made Lozere an important center for fishing enthusiasts from all over France and beyond. These rivers have many different fish, but the most important is the brown trout.  In French, that is the truite fario, truite commune, or truite de rivière.



Brown trout 2.5 kg.(5.5 lbs).
Photograph courtesy of   Michael Meiters
www.flickr.com/photos/psychofreakx3/5391479746/

Brown trout in the languages of France neighbors:
(Catalan - truita de mar), (Dutch - zeeforel), (German – meerforelle), (Italian  - trota fario), (Spanish - trucha común, trucha marrón, trucha reo).

Learning about Lozere

To know more about the department of Lozere's history, visit their small museum:  Le Musée des Vallées Cévenoles, the museum of the Cévenole valleys. The museum is in the village of Saint Jean du Gard, 89 km  (56 miles) from Mende, the prefecture.

For more about the Cevennes look at their English language website:

http://www.cevennes-tourisme.fr/uk/

A special part of the history of Lozere.

The department is internationally recognized for the small town of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. Through its Protestant Pastor, this whole town worked together and saved thousands of Jews in WWII. Many were smuggled into neutral Switzerland, and many others were hidden throughout the entire war in private homes and the nearby forests. The whole village was recognized as among the Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in Israel and in 2004 by the French President Jacques Chirac. The town is 130 km (81 miles) from Mende, the Prefecture, the regional capital. The French language website of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon can be well understood using Google or Bing translate: http://www.ville-lechambonsurlignon.fr/


The church in Chambon-sur-Lignon
Photograph courtesy of Suzanne.
www.flickr.com/photos/sweetpeasue/6104529370/

Where is Lozere

Lozère is the least populated a department in France.  It is in the region of Occitanie bordering the department of Gard also in Occitanie and the departments of  Ardeche, Cantal, and Haute-Loire in the Auvergne-Rhone Alps; Avignon is less than one hour by car.

This Lozere French language website can be easily understood with the Google or Bing translating apps:  http://www.lozere-tourisme.com/


--------------------------------

Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman

behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com


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