L'HISTOIRE DE LA RAIE CENDRÉE

The farms in this region are very remote. During severe winters the farmers couldn't deliver the milk to the cheese-dairy down in the village.
As the milk of a single herd wasn't enough to produce the big imposing Comté cheeses, the farmers started to make a smaller cheese of 8 to 10 kgs, adding the milk of the morning's and the evening's milking.


They curdled the morning's milk, put in a mould and covered it with a layer of ash taken from the cauldron to protect it.
That's how the famous black layer appeared.
In the evening the curds of the second milking finished the cheese..

Nowadays, the famous black stripe is made of charcoal.