The players in the cheese dairy sector are unanimous: in recent years we have witnessed a real explosion in sales of raclette cheese. Obviously, in most cases, to prepare the eponymous dish. Cheese has the particularity of sharing the same name as the dish that makes it most comfortable, that is to say, melted. The opening of the raclette season starts with the onset of the cold, a bit like skiing starts with the first snow. Each year, or more exactly each winter, the consumption records of the past year are broken.
“
As soon as the thermometer goes down, the raclette phenomenon sets in
,” emphasizes Éric Mainbourg of the Caves Affinage de Savoie, who works with a dozen farm producers, whose raw milk raclettes he distributes across France to creamers. cheese makers.
"
A raclette is in fact a tomme with a washed rind that is refined for at least two months to obtain this texture and taste that the heating effect will sublimate
".
The origins of this use would be Swiss, more exactly from the canton of Valais.
A shepherd would have left a piece of cheese on the edge of the fireplace and picked it up, dripping, on a piece of bread.
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Upmarket
If the Valais raclette has had an AOP since 2003, we obviously produce raclette in the rest of the Alps and in the country where an IGP was decreed in ... 2017. Only four years ago, could we? astonish. “
At the same time as we observe a growing demand for this cheese, there is a real move upmarket of this product dictated directly by the consumer. Before, we went to the supermarket to buy an industrial raclette in plastic, today we call on the expertise of a cheese maker to buy a quality product made from raw milk, or even organic
”comments Nicolas Julhès from the eponymous grocery store to Paris, which does not hesitate to compare the evolution of this cheese with that of rosé, which has now become a gastronomic wine.
This increase in consumption is also due to an important thing: we now eat raclette everywhere in France, when we want and not only in the resort during the holidays. This was perfectly captured by Jean-Baptiste Boivin, founder of the lakoop.com sales site which lists some 550 products from Savoie and Haute-Savoie. “
Raclette represents two out of three sales in the winter period, with a majority of orders coming from very rural areas where dairy cheeses are now rarely present. We even thought about raclette packs but it is clear that customers prefer to compose their basket themselves.
»Explains the e-merchant who sells charcuterie and wines, as white as red (Mondeuse, Gamay, Chasselas, etc.) which are used with raclette.
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With garlic, truffle or pepper
“
For a raclette, you need 200 grams of cheese per person. With a price per kilo of around 20 € for a raw milk cheese, it remains a dish at a very reasonable cost for which people do not hesitate to indulge themselves with the side dishes
”. Especially since raclette is synonymous with a convivial meal where you can bring together family and friends in large numbers without spending too much time in the kitchen. “
It is even without doubt the meal most in tune with social networks. And as our life has become a permanent challenge, everyone tries to be original by going for other cheeses such as reblochon, morbier or even blue de Gex.
»Emphasizes Nicolas Julhès. The original raclette is not left out either, since cheese makers have started to produce scented raclettes: smoked, wild garlic, pepper, truffle ... "
This movement has also prompted cheese producers to to do a lot of research on the product: the texture and the rendering of oil when heated, the evolution of seasonings during ripening…
”explains Eric Mainbourg.
So, does raclette still have its reason to be consumed in the mountains? “
Yes, of course, because it is always pleasant to taste products as close as possible to their place of production. So, don't hesitate to go to cheese makers or refiners to find original quality products,
”he adds. However, you have to be careful with the price, which is relatively standardized, and avoid, especially in markets, stands with checkered tablecloths and other folkloric attributes, and even more so traders who do not have refrigerated display cases or refrigerated trucks on site. "
Restaurants offering raclettes with real knowledge of the products will always remain significantly more numerous in the resort than in the city, where the issue of seasonality is not easy to manage in the economic model,
”explains Nicolas Julhès.
The ultimate bonus, the raclon will inevitably be part of the cookware of any apartment or chalet rental.
Good addresses
The Savoy refining cellars, an artisan refiner located in Rognaix.
Savoy ripening cellars / Press photo
La Koop, 100% online
Some 550 products available online in this cooperative representing the best producers in Savoie.
Julhès, in Paris
Seven points of sale and a website for this family and Parisian gourmet grocery store.
The Savoy ripening cellars
, in Rognaix
A shop is located next to the refining tunnel (accessible to visitors every Friday at 10 am).
47 Impasse de La Poudrière 73730 Rognaix.
Phone.
: +33 (0) 4 79 31 82 28. contact @ caves-affinage-savoie
Beauty in thigh
, Val Thorens
Not trivial, an outstanding choice of cheese deli meats located in the heart of the highest resort in the Alps.
Rue de Caron, Arcelle building 1 73440 Val Thorens.
Phone.
: 04 79 00 04 30.
A book:
Haute Raclette, The art of raclette cheese in 52 melting recipes.
Authors: Jennifer & Arnaud Favre, and Pierre Crepeaud.
Photography: Dorian Rollin.
Helvetiq editions.
ISBN: 978-2-940673-30-8.
Sale price: € 24.90