tasting the jura, part 2

Three days in the Jura passed quickly and slowly at the same time. We began each morning early. Our first day was spent exploring and gathering, our second consisted of visits and tastings. Dinner was never served before 8pm, and though the meals was enjoyed leisurely, I crawled into bed happily exhausted soon after. 

The third day was a bit different though. Before the Comté museum and after the tour of the fruitière, we stopped for lunch at a gastronomic restaurant: Graplot. It was a beautiful, three course affair.

{cheese chips, local sausage}

{glass of Poulsard, duck with avocado cream}

{white fish over lentils}

{chantilly-filled puffed pastry}

And right before returning to Paris, we stopped in the town of Arbois. I bought Comté to bring home of course, and the region's famous saucisse de Morteau for the boy (we later used it in this soup), a bottle of Trosseau for my French family, and six craft beers for a (soon-to-be) tasting with my friends.

I also ventured inside Maison Hirsinger to have a glimpse at the supposed chocolat vivant (living chocolate).

What to choose, what to choose? Everything seemed to be exorbitantly expensive, but then the professor told me about how Édouard Hirsinger never freezes his chocolate, only uses pasteurized cream, and handcrafts 95% of the chocolate his chocolatier produces, Could the fancy prices be worth it?

In three cases, at least... yes. I discovered this during our gourmet chocolate tasting en route to Paris. We tried our best to taste it correctly. The first was elegant and creamy with a passionfruit filling, the second, nutty, lithe, balanced (my favorite), and the third, bittersweet and powerful with a sesame coating. In other words, the Maison Hersinger was phenomenal, especially so thanks to my recent taste education. I've tried my very best to hold onto these sensory experiences ever since I arrived at Gare de Lyon at 10:10pm.