Say Cheese

First of all, sorry for bombarding you with blog posts recently. Oftentimes fun or interesting things happen, but I don't have the time to blog about them right away. But I'm going to try and make an effort to catch up on those non-time-sensitive entries which I think you might enjoy.

It's hard to overstate how much French people love their fromage. I guess you could say they love wine even more, but even that is up for discussion. And just like with wine, I'm a total novice when it comes to cheese. I'm willing to try anything, but often I forget to write down the name, or just plain don't comprehend when the friend/server/host tells it to me. So, I'm still learning. But I thought you might like an introduction to the cheeses I have tried so far, knowing there will certainly be more to come.

A brief word about French cheeses in general: there are three main types of French cheese:

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)

Many of them are AOC, which stands for Appellation d’origine contrôlée ("controlled designation of origin"). This is the certification granted to certain geographical regions to produce specific products which can only bear the name if they come from that area -- think, Champagne, which can only be called that if it actually comes from Champagne. This is all based on the concept of terroir, that certain products like wine and cheese are intrinsically linked to the area in which they originated because of its specific climatological and geological features. AOC-type regulations for wine have been around in France since the beginning of the 20th century, and now include other products like cheese, butter, honey, mustard, and meat.

First off, cheese from Franche-Comté.

Comté

It's in the name, and it's the pride and joy of the region. They put Comté on everything (not an exaggeration, I had dinner at Colin's the other night and he and his brother cut up Comté to put on the rice that went with their chili...) It's made from unpasteurized cows' milk and has the highest production of all French AOC cheeses (40,000 tons, or 88 million pounds, per year). It's relatively firm, with a distinctive and slightly sweet taste.

Morbier

The name of this cheese comes from name of its village of origin. It's a semi-soft cheese which is white-ish and instantly recognizable by the thin line of tasteless ash separating it horizontally across the middle. Nowadays the ash is just added for tradition, but originally it was put there to protect the curd overnight, if the evening's milking didn't produce enough milk for an entire wheel of cheese. It is quite creamy, with a rich flavor. 

Cancoillotte

This cheese is produced principally in Franche-Comté, but also in the Lorraine region and in Luxembourg. I've described it previously on my blog and been fortunate enough to try quite a few different varieties (the garlic-flavored one is my favorite). It can be eaten hot (served over potatoes) or cold (drizzled like a spread on bread). The texture is similar to that of yogurt, or slightly runnier if it's hot. 

 

Monte d'Or / Vacherin du Haut-Doubs

This cheese comes from the Jura region and is only available from September 10 through May 10, and since the season was just beginning when I got to Besançon, I saw lots of signs in grocery stores and cheese shops announcing its arrival. It's a soft cheese which is sold in round containers of various sizes and is often eaten as a fondue (I still have to try that). It has a fairly strong flavor.

Sapin

This cows' milk cheese is one I picked  at random in the grocery store and really liked. I find its sweet, slightly nutty flavor to be quintessentially French... I'm not sure why, but the aroma ad flavor is one I seem to encounter a lot here, but never at home. It comes from Franche-Comté and is made by a cheesemaker called Perrin, in the same style as the Mont d'Or. It comes in a wooden box encircled with a piece of Spruce bark, which imparts some of the nutty, woodsy flavor to the cheese. It's a medium-soft cheese, with a creamy white center.

And now, for the rest:

Roquefort

Of all the cheeses I've listed so far, this is probably the only one whose name you recognize. It had heard of it before I arrived in France, but I'm not even sure I could have told you that it is a type of blue cheese. Roquefort, which comes from Roquefort-sur-Soulzon in south-central France, is made with ewe's milk, which, along with its AOC, distinguishes it from other types of blue cheese. The cheese is white, tangy, crumbly and slightly moist, with distinctive veins of green mold. It has a very distinctive taste which I happen to love. With 18,000 tonnes being produced annually, Roquefort is France's second most-popular cheese, after Comté. 

Bleu d’Auvergne

While it is also a blue cheese, Bleu d'Auvergne is not the same thing as Roquefort. First of all, it's made with cows' milk, not ewes' milk, and secondly it comes from Auvergne (also south-central France, but not as far south). This bleu isn't as salty as others and has with a creamier taste and a moister texture. I first tried it in Strasbourg, when Brooke and I had lunch at Jeanette et les Cycleux. Apparently it's very popular there because it pairs well with sweet dessert wines like Reisling or Sauvignon Blanc, which are both grown in Alsace.

Munster

This was another cheese I had heard of before coming to France, but definitely could not have identified. It was also part of the sampler that Brooke and I had for lunch in Strasbourg, and it was one of her favorites. It comes from the Vosges mountains, which are between the French regions of Alsace, Lorraine, and Franche-Comté. It's a soft cheese with a medium-strong flavor (not as strong as the Mont d'Or, for example). 

Époisses de Bourgogne

And now we bring out the heavy hitters... This cheese is not for the faint of heart, nor those with extra-sensitive noses. This cheese comes from the village of Epoisses in the departement of Cote d'Or, halfway between Dijon and Auxerre. It has a distinctive orange-red color and is sold in round containers. It also has a distinctive smell... this is a stinky cheese! The people who love it don't mind, but I can't say I count myself to be one of them, at least not yet. It's just a little too much for my taste buds. I tried it first with my host family in Dijon, and have been roped into trying it again a few times since then. Apparently it's best consumed in conjunction with a good Bourgogne Pinot Noir or a Bordeaux Sauternes (a sweet white wine), but I think for now I'll just stick to the wine by itself...

Tête de Moine

This cheese I tried for the first time last Thursday, at Jeremy's wine-and-cheese-themed crémaillère (housewarming party). Jeremy and his wife both work for the local news station, France3 Franche-Comté, and recently moved here from Dijon. When I first heard of the party's theme I found it a bit silly (isn't wine and cheese the theme of every French party?), but once I got there I realized this was no joking matter. There were at least 16 different kinds of cheese, and at least as many wines. Many of them I had never seen or heard of before, including Tête de Moine (literally, "monks' head"). Like many French cheeses, its origins come from the activities of monks who produced it for themselves and as a source of income for their abbeys (in this case, the Bellelay Abbey). This particular cheese has been around at least since 1292. It is characterized by its cylindrical form, and is cut using a girolle, a scraper on an axle planted in the center of the cheese. Actually the cheese has to be scraped in order to develop its flavors, just cutting it doesn't produce the same taste. It's a firm cheese with a mild flavor (about the same strength as Comté, but definitely a different taste). 

Mimolette

A cheese traditional produced in and around the city of Lille, France, it's also known as Boule de Lille after its city of origin, or vieux Hollande. It's a fairly bright orange color (from the natural colorant annato) and the taste is somewhat similar to Parmesean. It's a hard cheese and I find it quite tasty. When I tried it it was served as a wedge, but apparently the wheel in its entirety resembles a canteloupe! 

Chèvre

So chèvre is the French word for 'goat,' and also the abbreviated version of froamge du chèvre or goats' milk cheese. There are 14 different AOC chèvre cheeses produced in France, the largest of which is Crottin de Chavignol (in the Loire Valley). Most of the chèvre produced in France either comes from the Loire Valley or from the region of Poitou (eastern coast of France, contains the city of Poitiers). Chèvre comes in many different varities: fresh, ripened, dry, rolled in ash, grapes, herbs, spices (such as pepper or saffron), honey, soaked in olive oil or in wine. I happen to love goat cheese, although I generally prefer the fresh to the aged kind. It's all about the context though. In general the goat cheese here is not as fluffy or as crumbly as the goat cheese I encounter at home perhaps that goat cheese has cows' milk or ewes' milk added and that gives it a different texture).

Chaussée aux Moines

Another cheese with ecclesiastical origins... this one comes the département of Mayenne in the Loire Valley (northwestern-ish France). I also tasted this one for the first time at Jeremy's crémaillère on Thursday. I wasn't a huge fan, it didn't seem to have a particularly interesting or memorable flavor. It was mild and soft, and sort of a standard white-ivory color. 

Tomme de Savoie 

This is the variety of tomme cheese which comes from Savoie (so logical, right?). Savoie is located in the département of Rhône-Alpes, south and east of Doubs, where Besançon is located). Tomme is the name of a type of cheese produced in the French Alps and in Switzerland, which is normally produced from the skim milk left over after the cream has been removed to make butter and richer cheeses. Because of this they are usually low in fat. Tomme de Savoie might be the most common variety of tomme. It's a mild, semi-firm cheese with a beige interior and a grayish-brown rind. I have to say this one isn't my favorite either; it's a mild cheese, but the flavor it does have isn't my favorite. I should probably make an effort to try it some more though, since it's such a mainstay. 

Langres

I tried this cheese at the suggestion of the guy at the local fromagerie (cheese store). This was back in October when I was doing things like buying cheese at a fromagerie, instead of the grocery store. Then I realized that my teaching assistant salary does not include a gourmet cheese budget, so I got a little more reasonable. But luckily here it's easy to find really delicious cheeses without having to go to a specialty store. But, back to Langres. This cheese comes from, you guessed it, Langres, which is in the region of Champagne-Ardenne. The rind is anywhere from yellowish to orangey-red, and the inside is a creamy white. It's a medium-soft cheese with a strong but agreeable taste (this one's much easier on the tastebuds than an Epoisses).

Hopefully I'll have more cheeses to report back to you soon!