Photos: A new cheese emerges in France during the coronavirus lockdown

Lionel and Laura Vaxelaire, cheese makers from Eastern France saw a drop in sales by 80% as the lockdown was imposed. However, things turned around for them after they discovered a new variety of cheese in the cellar that matured from their erstwhile variety of unsold munster cheese. As the lockdown ended, this product of isolation which the owners call "Le confine" was sold out quickly. Now, new batches of the greyish, mottled flowery rind rests in the cellar on popular demand.

Updated on: Jul 22, 2020 3:04 PM IST

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Updated on Jul 22, 2020 3:04 PM

French farmers Lionel Vaxelaire and Laura Vaxelaire pose with their cheese named “Le Confiné ” in front of their cheese dairy in Saulxures-sur-Moselotte, Eastern France on July 17. The couple created a new cheese named “Le Confiné ” after they forgot a batch of their unsold cheese in the cellar during the coronavirus lockdown. (Jean Christophe Verhaegen / AFP)

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Updated on Jul 22, 2020 3:04 PM

Lionel and Laura’s Vosgienne breed cows pictured in a pasture in Saulxures-sur-Moselotte. The couple who keep a herd of 25 cows for their cheese dairy in the Eastern France, usually turn all of the milk that the cows produce into cheese. (Jean Christophe Verhaegen / AFP)

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Updated on Jul 22, 2020 3:04 PM

Farmer Claude Vaxelaire milks a Vosgienne breed cow in a milking stall at the cheese dairy in Saulxures-sur-Moselotte on July 17. Vaxelaires’ dairy saw a major drop in sales as a result of the lockdown, which forced them to keep away the unsold cheese in their cellar. (Jean Christophe Verhaegen / AFP)

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Updated on Jul 22, 2020 3:04 PM

Laura salts munster cheeses inside her cheese-making plant in Saulxures-sur-Moselotte on July 17. Unlike Munster which requires hand-rubbing with a saltwater solution every two days encouraging the growth of fungi and bacteria, including Brevibacterium linens, Le Confiné is left to age, untouched for four weeks. (Jean Christophe Verhaegen / AFP)

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Updated on Jul 22, 2020 3:04 PM

Laura Vaxelaire salts munster cheeses inside her cheese-making plant in Saulxures-sur-Moselotte on July 17. According to French daily THE LOCAL, Le Confiné has joined the league of France’s best-known cheeses like Roquefort cheese which was also invented by accident. (Jean Christophe Verhaegen / AFP)

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Updated on Jul 22, 2020 3:04 PM

Laura shows her new cheese named “Le Confiné” inside her cheese making plant in Saulxures-sur-Moselotte on July 17. The cheese has a flavour midway between Munster and a Camembert variety. As it absorbs the flavour of raw milk and cellar’s flora, the texture becomes chalky inside and the rind gets mottled and greyish. (Jean Christophe Verhaegen / AFP)

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Updated on Jul 22, 2020 3:04 PM

Stocks of “Le Confiné” kept next to munster cheeses (R) in a refining room inside the cheese dairy in Saulxures-sur-Moselotte on July 17. Since France eased the lockdown, “the new kid is starting to make himself known” through farm gate and market sales, Lionel told Le Parisien. The only downside to Le Confiné, he added, is that it sold out so quickly — but there are new batches maturing in his cellar. (Jean Christophe Verhaegen / AFP)