Banon
Cheese packed in chestnut leaves
www.flickr.com/photos/alpesdehauteprovence-tourisme/8679356331/
The Banon Cheese
Banon is a soft, mild, tasty, 45% fat,
goat’s milk cheese made with unpasteurized milk. The cheeses are small, round,
and 6 -7 cm ( 2.75”) in diameter, with each cheese weighing
approximately 100 grams (3.5 oz). The cheese matures for at least 20 days and when
the young cheeses are considered ready they are dipped in a local eau-de-vie
and wrapped in their traditional coating of chestnut leaves; only then may they
be sold. The chestnut leaves from
Provence’s abundant chestnut
forests are applied by hand. For information on buying cheese in France and
bringing it home see the post: Buying
Cheese in France and Bringing French Cheese Home.
A ripe
young Banon AOC cheese.
The village of Banon
The village of Banon is in the region of
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and young Banon cheeses may be served warm in a
salad, as an entrée, the French first course, with a more mature cheese being
part of a cheese plate or on the cheese trolley. In the area try the cheese
with the enjoyable, and affordable, Alpes de Haute-Provence IGP
wines, especially their rosé or try the slightly more expensive AOP wines from
the Coteaux de Pierrevert appellation which has rosés, reds and whites, You
may also enjoy Banon with a glass of the sparkling rosé Crémant
de Provence, or the albeit expensive, but, very sweet and famous dessert wine,
the Muscat
de Beaume de Venise, produced just 74 km (46 miles) away.
The village of Banon
The Banon cheese has one of the smallest
annual productions of any French cheese, even though it is produced over a wide
area in farms and dairies including departments outside the
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. Altogether all these farm and dairies only
produce 70 tons of this cheese every year.
A café
in Banon
The origin of the Banon cheese is
sometimes disputed; however, no one disputes that it has been made under its
present name in and around the village of Banon for at least five hundred
years. Despite that minimum of 500
years, I was told that the cheese is close to 1,000 (years-old), and was
created in another village called Puimichel which is some 50 km (31 miles) away. I checked the story of the Puimichel origins
on the Banon AOC website,
and they ignore that claim; however, they do provide a tongue in cheek claim
that the cheese dates back 2,000 years
to the Roman Emperor Antonius (86 -161 CE), who “ate so much that he died.”
Banon and the communes around the village
produce many other cheeses. If you visit
the area on the third Sunday in May you will be in time for Banon’s annual
cheese celebration their Fête du Fromage; then you may taste them all. Check next year’s dates on the fete’s
website, which is in French but is easily understood using the Bing of Google
translation apps:
The village of
Puimichel and
Telescopes.
The village of Puimichel that some claim
to be the source of the recipe for the Banon cheese is 637 meters above sea
level, and home to a 1060mm Newton telescope built by the renowned Dany
Cardoen. This one of the world’s largest
amateur telescopes.
Puimichel and
Perfumes.
Whether you visit Puimichel to check out
the cheese story or to look at or through the telescope, then, apart from
people walking around staring at the stars, during the lavender flowering
season, you will be made aware of the village’s small factories that produce
perfumes from the local flora. The fragrance of flowers and perfumes fill the
streets at the height of the season, which is July and August.
Puimochel and
Pétanque
Also, while many French villages have
annual festivals in the third week of September, Puimichel has a weeklong
pétanque, boules, tournament, if you choose to join in or learn pétanque make a
note. You may also write ahead and hire
the telescope for a night or two.
Traveling from Puimichel to Banon
If you are traveling from Puimichel to Banon, halfway
between them is the small town of Forcalquier; here, you will find a pastis
distillery where for a small contribution to the local economy, you may try an
authentic Provencal anise based pastis.
Depending on the season, and how much you drank, you may continue your journey
onwards through the town’s Route de la Lavande.
The Lavender Road.
Their lavender road supplies much of Provence’s
AOP Huile Essentielle de Lavande, the Essential Lavender Oil. Many of the
streets outside Banon, Forcalquier, and Puimichel run alongside lavender
fields; the flowers color the countryside from the beginning of July until the
end of the season, in Mid or end August. The fields are intermingled with olive
trees that supply the AOP olive oil from Haute-Provence.
An Authentic Provencal Anise Based Pastis
If you are traveling from Puimichel to Banon, halfway
between them is the small town of Forcalquier; here, you will find a pastis
distillery, and for a small contribution to the local economy, you may try an
authentic Provencal anise based pastis.
Depending on the season, and how much you drank, you may then continue your
journey, once again through the town’s Route de la Lavande. The
fields are intermingled with olive trees that supply the AOP olive oil from Haute-Provence.
PPears confites with
lavender honey.
www.flickr.com/photos/alpesdehauteprovence-tourisme/8679352467/
Stop off
for a Natural Thermal Bath
The Romans
also used these thermal springs
And the
locals still ask whatever did the Roman do for us?
After those visits, for a change in pace,
just 30 km (18.6 miles) from the turnoff on the E712 for Banon, in the direction of
Marseilles is the village of Gréoux-les-Bains. Gréoux-les-Bains offers thermal
baths for those seeking a cure or just a pleasant way to spend a day. The Romans originally used these baths,
though I am sure they wouldn’t recognize the facilities today as the area now
includes quite a number of highly-rated hotels and restaurants, alongside
upscale baths.
The thermal baths of
Gréoux-les-Bains.
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Behind the French Menu
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behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Copyright 2010, 2013, 2019
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