Last in the series, “Cheesemaking crafts” ; of course we could only conclude this trilogy with Xavier himself ! Xavier tells us about his passion for refining direct from our Toulouse patch.

Xavier, what is a cheese refiner ?

Being a refiner is raising the cheese to take it from the “infant”, “young freshly removed from the mould” to the “adult” stages, when it is at its best to be sampled.

How do you become a refiner ?

There are several ways : firstly there is the way through a training school, with the ENIL (Ecole Nationale des Industries Laitières – National School of Dairy Industries) for example. Then there are preliminary courses in the different disciplines of the profession, where the student learns how to discover all possible and imaginable varieties of cheeses ; not only how to manufacture them, but also how to refine them, to raise them, to “mature” them. This refining is the sphere of certain people : refiners who are artisans, not to say artists. They have their own dexterity, tools, language, their own universe, their own atmosphere. The same cheese, according to whether it is worked by one refiner or another, will not at all have the same tasting specificities.

What led you to becoming a refiner ?

Firstly, the fact of wanting to work with real cheese, I’m talking of course of cheese made from raw milk. I realised that there was an indispensable way of obtaining a quality cheese : refining it. It’s the work of an artist, and you can completely put your personality into the product. There is a fellowship between the product and the human being, where the product at the end results from its initial state plus the know-how of the human agent. That’s what makes me passionate about cheese-making.

Can one talk about it as a vocation ?

Not as a vocation. But it can become a passion. I have always loved cheese, but once you get into the game, you pass all your time doing it. I’m the son of peasants from the Haut Doubs region, so I was “soaked in milk” as they say, because every morning and every night I had carry milk to the cheesemaking section, becoming immersed in the smells of dairy produce as a result. I can’t conceive of my childhood without devoting a thought directly to those twice-a-day moments. I knew I was working an animal product, either for the animal itself, or for its product. And not labouring in the vegetable or mineral fields.

How was your family life organised during these 30 years ?

First of all, I had scientific qualifications of course, but they had little impact on what I had to do in practice. Since the artisan’s craft is an occupation where you cannot delegate without being there, we have to accompany every human aspect which could be present around the product. So I just slipped into it , and you very quickly become passionate about it ! So much so that from a family point of view, with my dear wife, we determined what was acceptable and what wasn’t. It was a compromise. In addition the craft brought us so much joy : I can have fun both because of the cheese itself, as well as due to its influence, if only because it allows me to travel across all the provinces of France with their wealth of tasting and cultural riches, not mention the valuable human contacts. My five children were immersed in it, and helped me at all the vacation times, it became part of their universe (but only one part !). They helped me turn over the cheeses when they were small ; and later with sales ; many customers have known them for 30 ears ! They know all my setbacks as well as my numerous satisfactions. In fact one of them, François, has today been handed on the torch of the boutique.

How would you describe a day in the life of a refiner ?

It depends on what refiner : my days are very different to those of a refiner of a particular product. There are specialised refiners who refine only St Nectaire cheeses, others who concentrate on Ossau, etc. As for me, it’s completely different : every day I had to to cope with 250 different varieties of cheese. The first thing is to go down into the cellar. The smell already informs you, it tells you immediately if all is going well with the cheeses, if there is a problem. The refiner is like a shepherd : the first thing he or she looks for is to find out if something is going wrong. If a sheep has got away, he corrals the flock with the dog, and goes to look for it ! Well it’s the same for cheese : you enter the cellar, and you start inspecting. It’s with the eye of the professional, and within a few minutes you have quickly inspected the different batches. You know from the previous day if this one is draining badly, or if that one is being covered wrongly, if another is drying too much, and as a function of measures already taken the day before, your see how things are developing. Once you’ve gone around the cellar, and according to the days of the week, you can organise yourself. The goats’ cheese cellar : turning over the cheeses, removing unwanted sticky parts, perhaps by rubbing or slightly drying, eliminating certain unwanted fungi, a little hand movement on a down which is too swollen, etc. Then, soft cheese interiors with washed rinds : adapted treatment measures, batch by batch. You have to “wash” them with a special solution, perhaps set up rotation or protection systems. As for soft cheese interiors with flowered rinds, they develop very quickly. The Camembert’s down, for example, must not be too aggressive, and you will have to avoid it drying out, or on the contrary air it a little bit. And then all pressed interiors : check their development regularly, see that the rinds are good, that the moist rind is damp enough and “ma non propo”, that it doesn’t stick to the bottom, change the supporting struts, etc. These are tasks that can take from a few minutes to a few hours, and they’re not parametres, but occur as urgent matters at any moment.

Is the refiner’s territory then the cellar ?

The refiner is in the cellar, in the drying and washing chamber (the biggest part of the job). There are also tasks connected with hygiene which have to be seen to : sterilising certain tools to avoid contamination, for example. And then there is the tracing of the product, so as to be able to follow up each batch. This is the most administrative aspect of the craft. Not forgetting, last but not least, relationships with the producers : you have to meet them, discuss the successful outcome of the products nearly every day, be aware of what they can or cannot do as a function of the season, put into parametres and plan manufacturing schedules. It’s work that never stops.

What pleases you about this craft ?

That cheese is a living product, and is worked by human beings. It is this relationship with the product as with people that makes me enthusiastic. It is this reconciliation, this synergy between the quality of the product and the quality of human labour which produces such a result.

What are the difficulties of the craft ?

There are none ! Because everything is difficult, or everything is pleasure. According to what we’re looking for, we’ll be more or less satisfied : if a cheese is too damp in summer, it’s going to run… If it’s too dry in winter, it will not be creamy. What is valid today is not necessarily valid tomorrow, so you become very philosophical.

How do you see the future of this craft, of the sector ?

As with all occupations where men and women have a certain importance, or a pronounced importance, it is in the final product. Cheese from milk is definitively a product of the future : the worse is the industrial product, partial end of story. For me, any product where the hand of a man or woman brings a certain contribution is a product of the future.

What developments have you observed since you started ?

There are few, everywhere there was rather talk about “Closures”. Yet young people are now entering the craft, and it is a real fashion for those who did not know the product. Clearly, the product has been saved. Now the subject has to be reinvigorated so that it really acquires the place it should have. And there is a place for it ! We have to contribute to consumer development in general : this is a product that requires a certain education.

And if you had to choose a cheese … ?

None ! Everything depends on whether I’m alone, if it’s the morning, midday or the evening, if I’ve already had lunch or not yet, if I’m with a gentleman or a lady (it’s different), in what circumstances, if the wine has been chosen, if it’s white, red, with the coffee it would Maroilles, with beer perhaps a Munster, if a cider then a Livarot. I have no wish to make a religious cult out of it !

Interview conducted by Maya Marin, 7th December, 2006.

Previous subjects : Shepherd’s dream (1/3) and Cheese manufacturer (2/3)

Xavier’s fancies :

Comté de Noël 2003, Vacherin Mont d’Or, Col del Fach