Jeannine & Roger's French Cheese Odyssey

Montélimar - 2nd May

It is a planning and restock the cupboards day for us with a tacky tour thrown in. First stop was the Halles to see what local produce they had for sale, bit disappointing as only three of the spaces had vendors. But they did have a cheese map.

Montélimar is famous for two things, lavender and nougat. The Lavender has either just been trimmed or still growing, so no photos yet. The tourist websites list five nougat places to visit so we went for the biggest and most tacky looking.
I thought it was a bit steep asking €11 each to see the making of nougat and be forced through the shop, however besides the aforementioned there was quite a big collection of items from many decades. These included: trains, dolls, teddies, cars, toys, miniature villages, lego, games, gramophones, phones, etc. For the nougat side of things you got a history of sugar and nougat tour, and a live demonstration of them making it and wrapping it. There is even a free sample or two.
Of course being in France the exhibition credits Napoleon for encouraging sugar production from sugar beets, only because the British controlled the sugar cane market. However it was the Crusaders who introduced sugar to Europe in the 12th century; see I did read some information boards and didn’t just consume sugar the whole tour.

Some rugby fans will remember this guy who is also famous in the region.

Last entertainment for the day was the grocery shopping. French cuisine at its finest, see photo below of the little quail, my phone is next to it for comparison; maybe this is why French women never get fat as there wouldn’t be many mouthfuls on the little frame.

Cheese Experience No.11 Saint Marcellin, from the town we went through yesterday when all the shops were shut. We bought the handy three-pack so we can a take a small round on our travels for lunch each day. This cheese is like brie but firmer; it's supposed to be made, formed and aged by the controlled standards and, although similar to Saint Felicien, the rounds are a lot smaller. 

Just to add to yesterday’s Asterix picture here is one from the Nougat collection.