Many tunnels, often railway tunnels, are for sale in France.
Christian Pardou will have been a pioneer buyer. In the 80's, he bought the tunnel of Monplaisir, and since then, he has been maturing his cheeses there. This tunnel is located on an old line of the Compagnie des Chemins de fer du midi, dating from 1882.
The old tunnel has become a salting room that can hold up to 17,000 cheeses. Another part, the cellars buried in the trench that accesses the tunnel can accommodate 40,000 cheeses... Mountain cheeses, pure sheep, goat, cow-sheep....
Each cheese is unique and its flavor is enhanced by its refinement.
A very long history...
From Jean Pardou, a shepherd in the Ossau valley, to Christian Pardou, a recognized ripener, six generations have successively worked with farmhouse cheese from the Pyrenees.
As tradition dictates, every year the shepherds and their flocks make the transhumance in the mountains.
Every day, they make cheeses with the fine and creamy raw milk of their animals in the respect of traditions.
The day after their production, the cheeses are taken to the mountain tunnel to begin the ripening process.
After complete draining, the cheese is salted with Salies-de-Béarn salt.
Then it is matured for a long time, wiped, rubbed and turned over every two days on the pine planks. The cheeses reach their full maturity in our cellars.
The rind of the cheese is entirely natural, without coloring or plasticizer. Its color varies from orange-yellow to brown or gray.
Pardou Cheese Dairy
64440 Laruns
Phone : 05 59 82 60 77
www.fromagerie-pardou.com
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