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From the famous Mayenne pie, born from a local competition and which has become the emblem of the region, to emblematic cheeses such as Port Salut or Bons Mayennais, including smoked trout from Parné-sur-Roc, Pommeau du Maine AOC or even artisanal petit beurre, Mayenne is full of gourmet treasures to be enjoyed without moderation.
Mayenne, a rural and dairy farming region, is not in Auvergne, but is a major producer of cheese.
Mayenne cheeses
The Monks’ Causeway
The Chaussée aux Moines takes its name from its place of production: route de la Chaussée aux moines in Craon.
In 2006, the Lactalis group became the owner of the brand by purchasing the family company Célia.
The Closiers cheese
Tomme des Closiers is a young cheese made in Bierné by a group of breeders from Haut-Anjou since 2011.
It is a pressed cheese. Its rind is fruity.
The Saint-Fiacre
Saint-Fiacre has a taste similar to Munster. It is a cheese with character.
Port Salut
Trappist monks from the Abbey of Port-du-Salut created this cheese, hence its name. They brought the recipe back from a town in Westphalia, a former German region.
It is a pressed, uncooked cheese, covered with a thin orange rind.
A platter of Mayenne cheeses
A platter of Mayenne cheeses • © Mayenne Tourisme
Good Mayenne people
It all began in the heart of the Mayenne countryside, at the Château du Bois Belleray.
In 1912, Albert Le Masne de Brons ran out of gas near the abandoned castle. He was from Nantes, but owned several dairies in Normandy. He immediately sensed the building’s potential and decided to buy it to turn it into a dairy.
In 1933, the Vaubernier family, with the help of Alphonse Drezen, master cheesemaker, and his wife Léontine, transformed the dairy into a cheese factory.
Since the very beginning, two characters have been featured on the « Bons Mayennais » cheese box, but who are they really? Well, no one knows! But they have completely embodied the brand since the 1930s and have influenced generations.
Bons Mayennais, Mayenne cheese • ©Pierre-Éric Cally and Stanislas Bokor
New products have been launched to develop the brand, such as a range of organic cheeses and a range of cheeses for heating.
Farmhouse cheeses
In recent years, many cheeses have been added to the range of Mayenne cheeses.
Sheep and goat cheeses are now served on large restaurant tables.
The trout of Parné-sur-Roc
The commune of Parné-sur-Roc is located around ten kilometers from Laval, overlooking the Ouette River.
Claude Rémon, founder of the Ouette fish farm, processes trout on-site using traditional methods. He has developed a method of smoking trout over a wood fire. The fillets are sliced with a knife. You can purchase your products directly on-site from Monday to Friday year-round and on Saturdays from March to September.
Three ponds have been created for the enjoyment of fishermen.
Mayenne pie
Mayenne didn’t really have a culinary specialty. Following a competition, Fabrice Sorin, former chef of « Quatre épices » in Craon, and Alexandre Arnaud of « Esprit cuisine » in Laval, developed a recipe using the region’s signature ingredients: apples, beef, and Entrammes cheese.
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