Cheese! Round 2

Here are some more cheeses I've sampled recently. I'm going to keep the same format as my earlier cheese post, and here's the key:

1. Fromages au lait de vache (cows' milk cheeses)
2. Fromages au lait de chèvre (goats' milk cheeses)
3. Fromages au lait de brebis (ewes' milk cheeses)

Saint Félicien

Hello my new favorite cheese. I sampled this one with my host family last time I was in Dijon and I became totally hooked. I picked some up from the fromagerie in the covered market and my crush became full-on love. This creamy cow's milk cheese is from the Rhône-Alpes region (the one directly south of Franche-Comté, it's capital is Lyon). It's very similar to the Saint Marcellin cheese in taste and texture, but is softer and creamier and can be almost twice as large in diameter. The name comes from the town where the cheese was first produced and sold, Saint Félicien. Apparently the best Saint Félicien is sold between April and September (it's not uncommon for cheeses to have "seasons" like this, and some aren't sold at all during a certain time of year), but based on how good it was the last two times I tried it, it's hard to imagine it being any better. I guess I'm going to buy some again in mid-April to see if I can tell the difference... oh darn!

St. Albans

This poor cheese has the rough job of coming directly after the Saint Félicien, and unfortunately it was already not a favorite. Part of it could have been that I bought this cheese from the supermarket, rather than from a fromagerie. But it wasn't pre-packaged or anything, it had clearly been cut by the people at the cheese counter of the supermarket. Oh well. This cheese was more of a "runny cheese" than a soft or firm cheese, and I didn't find it's taste particularly remarkable. I did notice they sell it in one of the fromageries where I shop, so maybe I'll try theirs and give it a second chance. Unfortunately I couldn't find a picture of this cheese readily on the internet, but you'll have to trust me that it wasn't remarkable.

Cancoillotte: Absinthe

I brought this with me when I went over to Candice and Laurie's apartment to make dinner last night (we had champignons à la crème using the mushrooms that Séb gave me when Colin and I visited Chapelle -- they turned out great). Candice absolutely loves cancoillotte, and I would rather take a jar to share than have a full jar sitting around my refrigerator, if you know what I mean. This variety was delicious, but I can't say I could pin down the absinthe flavor precisely. It tasted sweeter than regular cancoillotte though. I think my favorite is still the au vin jaune variety, particular the au vin d'Arbois one I brought to my host family in Dijon last time I went. But I've seen at least a dozen other flavors, and unfortunately there's no way I'll have time to try them all now. I guess that leaves something for next time!

Cantal

This one was a big winner. For some reason I had it in my head that I didn't like Cantal, and I couldn't have been more wrong. I've seen it's taste described as similar to cheddar, but I found it more similar to comté, but with a little kick. In fact, I could go as far as to say that I preferred it to comté, but probably won't for fear of being exiled from Franche-Comté from my bisontin friends who read this blog. In any event, this cheese is from the département (like the county) of Cantal, in the Auvergne region (south-central France). It is one of the oldest cheeses in France, dating back to the time of the Gauls, and has been an AOC since 1956. The cows whose milk produces Cantal cheese are fed straw in the winter and grass in the summer; their milk from the straw-fed period is used to make Cantal cheese and their milk from the grass-fed period is used to make Salers cheese. There are three types of Cantal: jeune (aged 1-2 months), entre-deux or doré (aged 2-6 months) and vieux (aged 6+ months). I'm not sure which one mine was, but based on the flavor I would guess entre-deux. Apparently the vieux is rarely exported from the region because it's flavor is so strong and particular that it doesn't sell as well as the other types. 

CORRECTION: After checking my receipt from the fromagerie I can confirm that the Cantal I purchased was indeed the entre-deux variety. 

Saint Vernier

This one is a local cheese, made in Franche-Comté in Cléron, about 30 minutes south of Besançon by car and not far from Ornans. It's a cow's milk cheese made with pasteurized milk and has a distinctive but not-too-overwhelming flavor. I tend to prefer denser cheeses over runny ones (this one had a texture similar to Brie, which isn't my favorite), but I enjoyed it nevertheless. It was also aged with another local product, le vin de savagnin. Not my absolute favorite, but solid nonetheless.