Cheeses

The Couseran Valley is well known for cheesemaking. Traditional cheeses such as Bethmale and Couseran have earned the area a well-deserved reputation. 

Sylvie Domenc, cheesemaker at the Fromagerie de la Core, is one of the last women to make traditional Bethmale. While this cheese still remains a regional specialty and is held in high esteem, in the 1990s Domenc began experimenting, adding goat and sheep milk to this traditionally cow’s milk cheese. The result was the Trois Lait, a cheese that brings together the wonderful aspects of each type of milk – a base of fresh cream from the cows, a nutty richness of sheep milk, and a fruity tang of goat’s milk. While staying closely related to other Ariègeois cheeses, the Trois Lait is truly unique.

Aged for approximately two months in humid cellars, the cheese develops a mottled rind of orange and white molds. The paste becomes dense and semi-firm yet retains a creamy, rich mouthfeel and complex layered flavor with nuances of cream, smoke, toasted nuts, and meadow grasses.