Items11The creator’s order
  1. 1Caves Roquefort SociétéCaves Roquefort SociétéRoquefort is ripened inside the Combalou rock above the village, and this is the visit that takes you into it. A guide leads you for about an hour down through several levels of natural caves, explains how the caves formed, and then shows the refining cellars where the cheese spends its time. The…0
  2. 2Juraflore Comté Cellars at Fort des RoussesJuraflore Comté Cellars at Fort des RoussesWalking the vaulted galleries of an old mountain fort between floor-to-ceiling racks of Comté is one of the great sights in cheese. Fromageries Arnaud turned the Fort des Rousses into one of the largest Comté maturing cellars in Europe, and the guided visit spends about 90 minutes underground among…0
  3. 3La Maison du GruyèreLa Maison du GruyèreThe easiest place in Europe to watch a great mountain cheese being made from start to finish. From the gallery above the production floor you look straight down into copper vats as the milk is curdled, cut, cooked and pressed into molds, and the cheesemakers work two to four times each morning,…0
  4. 4Caseificio 4 MadonneCaseificio 4 MadonneParmigiano Reggiano is made only in the morning, and a morning tour here shows why that matters: fresh milk goes into large copper vats, and each vat yields just two wheels. You then walk into the aging warehouse, where thousands of wheels sit on towering shelves. The dairy has two sites near…0
  5. 5Acetaia GiustiAcetaia GiustiTraditional balsamic is a slow craft you can only understand by standing among the barrels, and Giusti keeps a vast collection of historical, centuries-old ones in a loft housing hundreds of casks. The guided visit is free, lasts around one hour and runs every day. It covers the family museum, the…0
  6. 6Bodega Cinco JotasBodega Cinco JotasJabugo is the village whose name has become shorthand for Spain's finest ham, and the centuries-old Cinco Jotas cellars are where you see the patient part of the process, the long cure. The Essence of Cinco Jotas visit takes about an hour, with a guide through the cellars and a tasting of 100%…0
  7. 7Halen MônHalen MônSalt is the ingredient every cheesemaker and cook relies on and almost nobody sees made, which is what makes this Anglesey producer such a satisfying stop. A relaxed guided tour of the Saltcote, on the shore of the Menai Strait, follows how clean seawater becomes flaky sea salt, with a look behind…0
  8. 8Hotel ChocolatHotel ChocolatTree to Bar experience, Rabot Estate, Saint Lucia Most chocolate tours start with a sack of dried beans. This one starts in the groves of Rabot Estate near Soufrière, Saint Lucia's oldest working cacao farm, where Hotel Chocolat grows its own cacao. The Tree to Bar experience takes about two and…0
  9. 9Askinosie ChocolateAskinosie ChocolateFactory tour, Springfield, Missouri A small-batch, bean-to-bar maker that buys all its cocoa beans directly from small farmers, and the tour is the place to hear what that means in practice. In about 45 minutes you get a behind-the-scenes look at how handmade chocolate is crafted from rare beans,…0
  10. 10Queen Creek Olive MillQueen Creek Olive MillOlive oil is a fresh fruit juice at heart, and a working mill with its own groves is the place to see that for yourself. This farm in Queen Creek, outside Phoenix, runs its Olive Oil 101 tour seven days a week: about 45 minutes that follow the olives from the grove to the press and into the…0