Cheese Database

Comté vs L'Etivaz

Comté, field guide plate
Comté, photographed

Comté

Facts

Milk
Cow
Texture
Hard
Type
Pressed
Rind
Natural rind
Country
France
Place
Jura
Status
PDO

Comté is a large pressed cow's-milk cheese from the French Jura, and a protected cheese. Fruitières, the cooperative dairies of the region, pool the milk of many farms. Montbéliarde cows and French Simmentals give the milk.

L'Etivaz

Facts

Milk
Cow
Texture
Hard
Type
Pressed
Rind
Natural rind
Country
Switzerland
Place
Vaud

L'Etivaz is a hard cow's milk cheese from Switzerland, made in the alpine style that sits near Gruyere. The wheels are large, with a natural rind and a dense pale paste that melts and grates well. The flavor is nutty, fruity, and savory, often a little fuller than a mild alpine cheese because of the way the milk is heated. It is a cooking cheese and a board cheese. It is not a fresh cheese, and it is not a blue.