This orangatang is made entirely of chocolate!

Monday, October 27th and it's the day for my food tour, "A Taste of the Saint-Germain."  A little back story here:  I've been on a food tour before (A Taste of the Marais)  and it was glorious--one I will never forget--but a little pricey.  When friends from Maine, where I grew up, were following my blog and reading about my adventures, they decided to give me some euros that they had found when going through their late father's things.  Those euros have made it possible for me to do this second tour.  Thank you to Deborah, Bernie, Joanna and Steve.  I wish you all could have been here, but I ate an drank for all of you!

This is where it all began, The Androuet Fromagerie 37 rue de Verneuil, 75007, where we picked out seven cheeses to taste.

And this is Sara Garcia, our tour guide.  She is holding a baguette monge from the Eric Kayser  bakery at 18 rue du Bac, 75007.  

 And here is my Slow Travel friend Debra from California with her lovely daughter Rena; they were also on the tour.  Happy Birthday Debra!

The Fromagerie smelled like heaven!  So many cheeses!!

We tried to pick some cheese from each category.  First, since goat cheese season is ending at the end of the month, two goat cheeses.

Saint-Nicolas,  (goat, Languedoc, 2-3 weeks)  This isproduced by monks who live off the land and so do the goats, eating only the while grasses and herbs in the region--this one tasted like thyme.
Rouelle du Tarn,  (goat, Midi-Pyrénées, 2-4 weeks).  This cheese was  mild and milky.  We ate an ashed version.  It was a stronger flavor than the Saint-Nicolas and several people preferred it.

Then some cows' milk cheeses.

Welsche (cow, Alsace, 8 weeks) This cows milk cheese is soft and supple and is washed with a riesling wine--also from the Alsace area!  It was a mildly "stinky" cheese and was delicious.

Moëlleux du Mont Revard,  (cow, Savoie, 5 weeks) . This creamy cows cheese is washed as it is aged and wrapped with a piece of pine bark which we could all taste a bit of--it reminded me of Christmas!

Beaufort AOC (cow, Rhône-Alpes, aged 5-18 months).  This cheese has been made in the French Alps since the 14th century.   The cheese is mildly cooked in cauldrons and the taste (mild sweet and nutty--almost a bacon-like hint of flavor) is the result.
Brillat-Savarin,  (cow, Normandy/Burgundy, aged 2-4 weeks).   To make this triple cheese, during the maturing process the cheese is cut open and more ream is poured in (hence double or triple cheese).   In winter is often stuffed with truffles.  We had the one with truffles and this was my favorite!

And finally a sheeps' milk cheese.
Roquefort AOC, (sheep, Midi-Pyrénées, usually aged 3 months but can go up to 10 months). 
This is a very old cheese, dating from before the Roman conquest of Gaul (2nd century BC). It is ripened for at least three months in the Cambalou caves below Roquefort-sur-Soulzon. These natural caves are filled with Penicillium roqueforti.

Protected since 1411 when Charles the VI signed a charter granting the people of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon the right to make it, and in 1925 it was the first cheese to be granted AOC status.  That means that any cheese with the appelation Roquefort, must be made in this area and matured in those caves.

 

Special thanks to Sara Garcia for providing much of the information about the history and making of these cheeses.  Any misinformation is my own (as are any editorial comments). 

 

Next stop was for chacuterie, at Maison Guyard an epicerie and traiteur at 42, Rue de Verneuil, 75007.   The lovely Madame Colette helped us pick our some foie gras (canard), rosette de Lyon, and a confit of carmelized onions!

 She let me practice my French while she practiced her English.  This place is the French version of a deli and makes sandwiches to go at lunch time.  I think I will be back!

We stopped at La Maison de Chou pastry shop at 7 rue de Furstenberg, 75006 (chou pastry puffs) to select our desserts.

 We got to see them fill the chou--they don't do it until you order!

 Then to our dining destination, La Dernière Goutte wine shop at 6 rue Bourbon le Château, 75006.
The name--"the last drop," refers to the last lucky drop drank of some very nice wines.  We had three wines:

2012, Vinsobres, Domaine Chaume-Arnaud

2012, Coteaux de Languedoc, Domaine d'Aupilhac, 

Lou Maset, Banyuls Reserva

 

 We ate and drank and talked and drank and ate some more.

 Then we wound our way through this charming and picturesque neighborhood, to Boulevard Saint Germain and our last stop at Patrick Roger Chocolate, 108 boulevard Saint-Germain, 75006.  There was a huge chocolate tiger in the window.   (He is also responsible for the large chocolate orang at the top of the blog.)

Everything is the shop is made of chocolate--some of it hand-painted.  Really works of art!

 We each had two chocolates (rocher noir, lemon/ basil) and went happily home (me with some foie gras and sausage for another meal).

And today (Tuesday, October 28th) is Debra Jacobs birthday and she's spending it in Paris!

Oh happy day!