French Comté cheese was one of the first cheeses to receive AOC recognition in 1958. Comte Extra is a wonderful unpasteurised French hard cheese that cooks fantastically well so is a great favourite with chefs. Aged for 12 - 18 months, it's strong nutty flavour has a slightly sweet note. 40,000 tonnes of Comté are made annually, each cheese is awarded a score out of 20 by inspectors, according to overall appearance (1 mark), quality of rind (1.5), internal appearance (3.5), texture (5), and taste (9). Those scoring 15 or above are called Comté Extra which is what we stock, The green label signifies the high quality of this cheese, it really does taste good. With 12-15 being given brown labels and simply called Comté. Any cheese scoring under 3 marks for taste, or under 12 overall is prohibited from being named Comté and is sold as Gruyère in France.