Lingot de Saint Nicolas

In 1962 an order of Orthodox Benedictine monks decided to settle in the tiny hamlet of la Dalmerie, in the Languedoc Roussillon, then home to 6 other farming families whose activities were divided between wine production or farming sheep for the production of Roquefort.  In 1965 their monastery was built.  It sits in the valley of Monts d’Orb in the National Park of Haut Languedoc in a natural amphitheatre of mountains facing towards the Mediterranean Sea across the wine growing plain of lower Languedoc.  A suitable area for monastic reflection, it is a peaceful setting with minimal interference of human activity but with the sounds of sheep bells from the pasture, sounds of the deep chants from monastic services all set to a background of cicadas.

As the Benedictine way of life values manual labour, from the beginning the monks used their land and its distinctive garrigue to graze a flock of Alpine goats whose milk they made into cheese and which became the work of current cheesemaker Pere Gabriel.  For him, the cheese preserves its links with the land due to use of fresh milk full of the natural flora from the milking process, augmented by a mother culture and a small drop of thyme oil made at the monastery from herbs gathered from the nearby aromatic shrubland.

After 50 years, a decision was made to cease rearing goats as the population of the monastery and indeed the hamlet was growing smaller but there were herds of dairy sheep locally.  Part of the monastery grazing land was cleared and given over to local young farmers who continue to manage the land sustainably as the monks had intended.  Pere Gabriel then made the not insignificant change to making cheese with local sheeps milk. This comes from a farmer, Patrick, whose flock of Lacaune sheep graze at GAEC Licidou near Vinas, 3km from the monastery throughout the winter and during the summer from June to November graze on monastery land where they particularly enjoy grazing broom, madder and a slender stemmed grass-like plant with lilac blue flowers known in French as La Filante de Montpelier.

Milk arrives fresh every morning continuing an important example of what made their goats cheeses so expressive of place.  A measured dose of the mother culture is added to the tank at milking so that it is beginning to ripen as the milk is delivered the short distance to the dairy.  The milk is ripened over 3 hours as it cools from milking temperature to 18C.  At this point a drop of thyme oil is added just before renneting and it is left to coagulate over 48 hours.  During coagulation 15cm cubes are cut into the curd to help release the whey.  This step is necessary due to the much richer nature of sheeps milk versus goats milk.  It is richer in fats and proteins and this can make it less easy to drain spontaneously.  To have moved from one milk that is low in fats and proteins (goats) to one that is the absolute opposite and yet have maintained an excellent quality cheese is testament to the skill and knowledge of cheesemaking that Pere Gabriel has.

After coagulation the whey that has accumulated at the top of the curd mass is taken off and the curd is ladled by hand into moulds.  In common with most lactic cheesemaking, the formed cheeses are left to drain in their moulds and turned in their moulds as well before being turned out onto racks and salted.  In total the cheeses either in moulds or on their racks will stay in the make room for 48 hours in total where they are held at 20C.  This not only helps them drain (there are minimal manual interventions to aid drainage when making a lactic cheese) but also promotes the growth of wrinkled geotrichum yeasts on the rinds which help develop a flavourful but delicate rind.

Not only is it Pere Gabriel’s knowledge of cheesemaking that ensures that this subtly herbal cheese is a delight to eat but his knowledge as a farmer means that he is able to work with Patrick to ensure the milk is of the quality he wants.  So few cheesemakers also have the farming knowledge to back it up and can find the world of buying in milk for production a veritable minefield.  Patrick and Pere Gabriel however work happily to common values and the proof is there in the cheese.

The season for these cheeses ends soon, in July, so hurry and get them while you still can.  They’re tasting delicious, a lovely blend of milky, creamy and fresh with a subtle herbal thyme hit that compliments but allows the flavours of the milk to shine and the subtle mushroom, hazelnut notes of the rind to come through.