Bonjour mes amis! Yesterday, May 26, Lee and I traveled through the Chartreuse mountains and made some interesting discoveries. The Chartreuse Mountains (French: massif de la Chartreuse) is a mountain range in eastern France, stretching to the north from the city of Grenoble to the Lac du Bourget. It is the southernmost range in the Jura Mountains. These mountains are dominated by limestone and many "cave passages" which lie beneath the hills. The most important city in the Chartreuse Mountains is Voiron (Isère). The mountain drive to Voiron was spectacular. There, we visited the factory where Chartreuse is made. Chartreuse is a French liqueur which has been made by the Carthusian Monks since the 1740s. It is composed of distilled alcohol which is aged with 130 herbal extracts. This liqueur is named after the Monks' Grande Chartreuse monastery, which is located in the Chartreuse Mountains in the general region of Grenoble. The manufacturing of Chartreuse starts in the herb room of the Grande-Chartreuse Monastery, where the 2 monks in charge of the distillation mix and dose the 130 herbs, which are then transported to the distillery in Voiron. On the first floor, the herbs are divided up into several batches and left to soak in vats. Nobody except the Chartreuse monks can enter this room. The first Chartreuse liquid was created with herbs and plants for medicinal purposes in the treatment of illnesses. So tasty was this elixir that it was often used afterwards as a beverage rather than a medicine. Recognizing this, the monks, in 1764, adapted the elixir recipe to make a milder beverage which we know today as "Green Chartreuse". Chartreuse gives its name to the color of the liqueur, which comes in green as well as yellow.
Mme. Wallace
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