Tuesday, 18 June 2024

24 Hour Cheese Dispensers Launched in France: Camembert Around the Clock


24-hour CHEESE dispensers are launched in France for food lovers who crave a slice of camembert around the clock

  • Cheese vending machines are popping up in train stations and motorway stops

Food lovers in France are having their prayers answered with the launch of 24-hour cheese dispensers.

Vending machines stocking 'artisanal fromage' are now dotted around France, appearing in rail stations, village squares and motorway service stops.

These machines are open day and night to satisfy cravings around the clock.

Refrigeration inside prevents the pungent smell of many cheeses from wafting into the surrounding area.

It comes as the makers of hundreds of appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC), the protected regional cheese types, seek new ways to bring their produce to consumers.

Food lovers rejoice as 24-hour cheese dispensers open up around France  (Pictured: French cheese maker Fabien Picard carries a pallet with cheese to fill his vending machine at the train station in Bourg en Bresse, eastern France)

Food lovers rejoice as 24-hour cheese dispensers open up around France  (Pictured: French cheese maker Fabien Picard carries a pallet with cheese to fill his vending machine at the train station in Bourg en Bresse, eastern France)

Vending machines are popping up in railway stations, village squares and motorway services (Pictured: Fabian Picard, head of La fromager dairy, fills his cheese vending machine in Bourg en Bresse, eastern France)

Vending machines are popping up in railway stations, village squares and motorway services (Pictured: Fabian Picard, head of La fromager dairy, fills his cheese vending machine in Bourg en Bresse, eastern France)

The automatic dispensers are refrigerated, protecting the surrounding area from wafting smells (Pictured: Cheesemaker Fabien Picard fills his cheese vending machine in Bourg en Bresse, eastern France)

The automatic dispensers are refrigerated, protecting the surrounding area from wafting smells (Pictured: Cheesemaker Fabien Picard fills his cheese vending machine in Bourg en Bresse, eastern France)

Farm cooperatives and small producers are banding together to finance the often-costly machines.

The number of fresh bread dispensers, usually featuring baguettes, is also growing.

With France being the home of so many popular cheeses, including camembert, roquefort and reblochon, this was the logical next step.

These vending machines initially took off during the pandemic, because customers could serve themselves without putting on masks and entering shops.

Regional officials are now encouraging the dispensers to promote local quality produce.

They are especially apprecaited in rural areas, where the closure of local outlets is forcing people to drive further for their shopping.

The Coopérative de Doubs was one of the first shops to have one outside, and on offer is everything from comté to morbier for the perfect last-minute cheeseboard. 

Cheese dispensers are the latest in a trend of machines selling pizzas, oysters, muscle, charcuterie and fresh bread (Pictured: Cheesemaker Fabien Picard fills his cheese vending machine in a railway station in France)

Cheese dispensers are the latest in a trend of machines selling pizzas and fresh bread (Pictured: Cheesemaker Fabien Picard fills his cheese vending machine in a railway station in France)

These vending machines initially took off during the pandemic, because customers could serve themselves without putting on masks and entering shops

These vending machines initially took off during the pandemic, because customers could serve themselves without putting on masks and entering shops

Famous Cheeses local to certain regions of France include camembert, roquefort and reblochon (Pictured: Fabien Picard prepares his delivery to fill his cheese vending machine)

Famous Cheeses local to certain regions of France include camembert, roquefort and reblochon (Pictured: Fabien Picard prepares his delivery to fill his cheese vending machine)

Fabien Picard (pictured) said: 'You can just turn the carousel, choose your cheese and pay with a bank card, before picking up your purchase.'

Fabien Picard (pictured) said: 'You can just turn the carousel, choose your cheese and pay with a bank card, before picking up your purchase.'

In the eastern Ain departement, Fabian Picard, head of La fromager dairy, said people had been surprised to discover his automated supply of tomme du Jura, comté, and other types from his dispensers on the motorway and in the bust Bourg-en-Bresse station.

He told Agence France-Presse: 'You can just turn the carousel, choose your cheese and pay with a bank card, before picking up your purchase.'

The cheese, which costs a little more than in the shops, is stocked up once a day.

In Varaville, in the coastal Calvados departmente of Normandy, a fromagerie is stocking a machine with camembert and liverot.

In the high Alps of Haute-Savoie, a cheesemaker is stocking his 24-hour distributor with reblochon, tomme and raclette, the local specialties.

Mathieu Goguet, joint manager of La Boîte ô Fromages in the Calvados region, said his firm had been making home deliveries during the pandemic.

He told Radio France: 'We realised the people we were delivering to would not go 15 km to come and buy at the shop. But they could stop by a dispenser.' 

Camembert in its traditional round wood box. Critics have highlighted what they argue would be the prohibitive cost of recycling these boxes, which they say are more beneficial for the environment than the plastic alternative

Camembert in its traditional round wood box. 

The National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) warned that attempts to make camembert with a standard white rind over the decades had impacted the fungus used to manufacture the cheese (Stock Image)

Camembert

Lovers of traditional camembert say that cheese is alive and needs to be ripened and matured over a long period

Camembert 

Cheese aficionados say that cheese is alive and needs to be ripened and matured over a long period, preferably with live raw milk - it is not something that can be created in a laboratory


Some of France's most popular cheeses such as Camembert (pictured) and Roquefort did not even get a mention

Camembert 

Scientists say they have worked hard to recreate the aroma and taste of original camembert - they argue their process is far faster and less costly

Camembert

Tesco's £3.55 Triple Crème Brie (pictured) has been crowned the most popular cheese over the last year, with sales almost doubling

Triple Crème Brie 

Brie (Stock Image). Penicillium roqueforti produces the blue spores that make Roquefort distinct, while Penicillium camemberti gives rise to the distinctive texture of the rinds of brie and camembert

Brie

Scientists say brie (above) can also be made much quicker, with the same taste and texture

Brie

Brie and Camembert take roughly a month to ripen and reach the required texture and smelliness - all procedures which scientists say they can bypass 

Brie and Camembert take roughly a month to ripen and reach the required texture and smelliness

Elsewhere, sales for the £4 Ossau-Iraty have increased by 80 per cent (pictured: Tesco Ossau-Iraty)

Ossau-Iraty

Vintage Gouda and St Félicien sales are up by more than 50 per cent (pictured: Tesco Gouda)

Vintage Gouda

Roquefort (Stock Image). CNRS said in a report that blue cheeses such as Roquefort were in danger, although not as to the same extent as surface-ripened types such as brie and camembert

Roquefort

Bernard Roques, a refiner of Societe company, smells a Roquefort cheese as they mature in a cellar in Roquefort, southwestern France

Roquefort cheeses as they mature in a cellar in Roquefort, southwestern France 


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