In the remote Bethmale valley in the French Pyrenees, farmers tend cows, goats and sheep, and produce cheese from the milk of all of them. Bay Area retailers occasionally stock cow's milk or goat's milk Bethmale, a cheese I have profiled in the past, but I had never seen a three-milk version until this summer.
Sold under the name Trois Lait ("three milks"), the cheese is produced by a small creamery that specializes in the traditional washed-rind cheeses of this scenic region, the Ariège.
Sylvie Domenc, the proprietor, comes from a cheesemaking family and was managing a creamery by the time she was 20. She buys milk from local farmers and processes it in a modern facility, but the basic recipes she uses are ancient. Bethmale, on which Trois Lait is based, has been made in this valley for centuries. It's also the name of a village in the area.
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