Le Sel

Salt plays a very important role in world history, and its effects are still seen today. The word "salary" come from the latin word "salarium" which was a roman soldiers allowance for the purchase of salt.
In Aigues- Morte located in Southeastern France there is a very large salt mine which produces all the salt for France and is well known all over the world for their Sel de Fleur. Each year Le Salin- de- Giraud proudces 5,000 tonnes of salt from their 14,000 hectares of land.
Aigues-Morte is a historic town founded in 1240, which became the most important port during the 14th Century with funding from Louis IX. However at the end of the century the canals were no longer navigable because of excessive silt and when Provence became a part of France in 1481 Marseille took Aigues-Morte's place as the only southern port of the kingdom.

Part II

Le Fromage

The previous post is about the wine part of this lovely afternoon, this part will discuss the cheese. Many people associate France with cheese, the most common being Brie - very delicious and expensive in the US.

Even though France is associated with cheese, the US is the number one producer, and France following second. However, France consumes the most cheese followed by Italy.

France produces 500 different varieties of cheese.

90% comes from cows milk
5% comes from sheeps milk
5% comes from goat milk

Cheese can be produced in two ways after the milk naturally solidifies, which is yogurt


1. Solidified milk is strained and what is left used as cheese. This creates the soft cheeses such as brie and camembert.


2. Solidified milk is pressed to eliminate the milk. This creates the hard cheeses such as comté and gruyère.Salt is always added to preserve and give flavor
Soft cheese has the bacteria from mushrooms (penicillium) added, which creates the tough rind

Camembert

Normandy • Cows milk• Soft • Soaked in salt water

Comté


Montpellier • Cows milk • Hard • Salt injected

The most produced, exported, and eaten cheese in France, is 1/3 of production

Pelardon

Montpellier• Goats milk• Soft • Needs just 1 liter of milk to make

Hazelnut flavor, but no hazelnut added

Roquefort

South France • Sheeps milk • Blue family

Legend of Roquefort:

A young shepherd was keeping his sheep at the foot of the Massif de Combalou. As he was resting in a cave, just about to savor a delicious piece of rye bread with some sheep cheese on top, he saw a charming shepherdess go by. He quickly stuck his meal in a corner of the cave to run after the pretty woman, and forgot all about it. The young boy came across his bread a couple of months later. He noticed that as it had molded, the bread had turned blue and the piece of sheep cheese as well had been covered with bluish-green veins. As he was starving, he sank his teeth into it despite the strong odor the cheese was releasing and, mind you, found the delicacy much to his liking. Thus, Penicillium roqueforti came to be, born of a mysterious alchemy between the humidity and natural ventilation of a cave on a piece of dry bread. As if by magic, Roquefort cheese came to life.

Part I

Wine and Cheese Tasting

Today we had a crash course on how to experience wine and try different cheeses. It was a lovely afternoon outside with friends, laughter, and wonderful flavors. I will try my best to account for the events of the afternoon, however some people dedicate whole blogs to solely wine, so this just the surface of the surface.

For those that don’t know anything about wine:

-5,000 varieties of grapes in the world

- 500 varieties used for making wine

- La Vendange (grape harvest) is from late August to late October

- 5 Wine families

o Red

o Rosé

o White

o Moussu

o Liquereux

Tasting:

- La Vue ( how it looks) – the “robe (dress) “ of the wine i.e. color and legs

The faster the legs move the lower the alcohol content, the slower the higher

White wines: Start green

1 Month transparent

1 year pale

2 years pale yellow

eventually become a slight brown

Red Wines: Start purple

1 ½ years turn black

3 years black orange

- L’Odeur (smell) the boquet

- Le Goût (taste) aromas, feel

fruity

woody

sweet

acidic

N.B. Make sure to hold the glass on the bottom to prevent heating up the wine

We sampled 4 wines from 3 different regions of France a white, rosé, red, and champagne/port.

White:

From Alsace

Jean Marie Strubbler Riesling 2008 12.5%

“green wine”

apple, pear, sweet

goes well with fish & salad

Rosé:

Nîmes, Languedoc

Gallician, Costières de Nîme Cuvée Tradition 2009 12.5%

Strawberry

Raspberry

* Rosé are a young wine, have been around for 20 years, and is considered to be for women

Red:

Bordeaux, Aquitaine

Bordeaux, Grand Vin de Bordeau, Les Maitres Goustiers 2009 13%

Black fruits

Cherry

* Bordeaux was the first region to mix different varieties of grapes together

Champagne:

Muscador, Cèpage

Peach

Buying Wine:

-Whites and Rosés don’t preserve very long, so always buy a young wine from the last 1 to 2 years

- Good wines come from specialty shops

- If the neck is sticky, the cork is permeable and therefore the wine is no longer good.

La Plage et Miel

Saturday we lathered white selves up in 50 spf suntan lotion and went to the beach near the town of Pérols. The weather was fantastic and it was just perfect to be able to sit out on the sand with the cool breeze and enjoy what we can actually now call summer.

Later that afternoon/early evening we came back to Montpellier andgathered all our belongings from the hotel and our host families came to greet us and take us away. My host family is a single lady, 34, who lives in le quartier Port Marianne. It is about a 15-20 minute tram ride to the center of town. She is really friendly and has made me feel very much at home here.

However, being anxious and nervous I didn’t take all my belongings with me from the hotel. It wasn’t until last night when I wanted to upload some photos when I remembered that I put the pocket drive in the pouch of the camera case, and my camera case wasn’t with me……

Thankfully, after the first day of classes this morning, I went back to the hotel and explained that I think I left my camera here over the weekend and the lady at the front desk immediately knew where it was. Phew.

Sunday I was able to sleep in for the first time in months. It felt great! I had a nice more normal traditional French breakfast with yogurt, an apple, and some melba toast with confiture. I sat out on the terrace drinking my espresso and reading.

The afternoon later led to an adventure into town and coming across the Sunday artisan market. There were many handmade items such as bags, clothing, chairs, jewelry, and paintings

but there were also local and artisan breads, honey, cheeses, and meats!

We stopped at the honey stand and talked to the man and he explained some of the various kinds of honey and he let us try a couple of them. We bought a jar of Miel D’Acacia (which is characterized for always being in a liquid state because of its high fructose content and being very clear, sometimes white) and a loaf of bread to have as an absolutely delicious snack.

Le Crêpe

The first real french crêpe: nutella and banana

Bienvenue à Montpellier

Montpellier greeted me with absolutely beautiful weather, beautiful people, and wonderful cuisine.

It was a long stressful trip from Minneapolis to Paris, Paris to Montpellier but the first hours here make it utterly worth it.

My last experience abroad was in Spain, so my first instinct being back on the narrow, quaint, winding streets with little tabacs and cafés is: Spanish. However I instead hear French drifting through the streets and it swiftly brought to my attention that I need to know how to order the nem de chevré au miel and confit de concard pommes sautées.

Surprisingly, the French have been very friendly, but I am disappointed when I muster up my French speaking skills and am reciprocated with English. It brings a sense of embarrassment they can so easily speak my language and I have not so easily learned theirs. But I cannot give up so easily, hopefully with a little more practice and immersion I’ll be more confident in ordering my confit of duck “with the sauce on the side”

Montpellier is crawling with students and has a lot of cultural diversity. Meandering the streets today there were graffiti artists in action, a beat box competition, jazz street performers, and a North African traditional dance. Bicycles zip by left and right and the tram misses you just by a ¼ of an inch.

After a long day of travel, settling into our home for the next two days (hotel ibis), wandering the old town of Montpellier, and eating a true French dinner, every sensation is satisfied.