If
French cheese for you just means brie, camembert, roquefort
and the "stuff that
looks like cheddar or gouda" in the local supermarché when
you're on holiday, then you don't know what you're missing!
France had
246 cheeses in de Gaulle's time, it has quite a few more than
that now, given the large number of new products, inventions
or
copies of traditional cheeses, that have emerged from France's hundreds
of dairy companies in the past 20 years. This guide is not by any means
a comprehensive listing of all the products that France can offer to
deck a well-garnished cheese-board. It is a look at some of the most
common, and the most tasty.
Types
of cheese - Cheese
and wine
The
main types of Cheese
to which can be added a number of hybrids or very individual cheeses.
Three
different types
of milk:
They are made from three types of milk:
- cow's milk
- goat's
milk
- sheep's
milk.
Two origins:
And they are further divided into cheeses from the farmhouse (fromages
fermiers) , or industrially manufactured cheeses.
Labels:
A further distinction is also possible: traditional regional cheeses
with
an "appellation controlée" label (there are about 40 of
these), traditional cheeses without an "appelation
contôlée" label, and modern dairy-designed and
produced
cheeses.
This brief guide looks at a good
selection of
French cheeses looking at each of these categories in turn.
The
families:
1.
Pressed cheeses. All of these are made from cow's milk.
A
selection of the best-known "pressed" (or "hard") cheeses in
France. All of these
cheeses come in large units, off which the cheese merchant will cut
slices. There are two types, "cooked" cheeeses, where the whey is
heated during the production process, and "uncooked" cheeses, where it
is not. Cooked cheeses can sometimes keep for a very long time.
Cantal
A very tasty uncooked pressed cheese from the Auvergne mountains,
Cantal is a cheese that many consider to be quite close to an
English farmhouse cheddar or chester. A lot of this
"appellation
contrôlée" cheese is made on farms, but obviously
local
dairies in the region also produce it in large quantities.
Cantal comes in two varieties: "jeune" (young) and
"entre
deux" (between two), meaning cheese that has matured for longer. This
cheese's strength and taste increase with ageing, and generally
speaking cantal cheese is stronger than cheddar.
Two smaller areas within or bordering the Cantal
department
produce specific appellations of their own, Salers and
Laguiole.
These cheeses - made from the milk of cows grazing at high altitude,
tend to be more expensive than generic Cantal, and are generally aged
longer.
Comté
This delicious French cousin of the swiss "Gruyère" cheese
is an appellation contrôlée from the Franche
Comté region of eastern France. The
production
area stretches
along the Swiss border, and all milk comes from cows grazing at at
least 400 metres altitude. This cooked cheese is manufactured
collectively
village by village, and the production method has changed little over
hundreds of years. Any Comté that is produced outside the
region, or using milk not coming from cows grazing according to the
"appellation contrôlée" rules, is sold off as Gruyère. Although Gruyère is the name of a Swiss village, it has recently been given an AOC label in France
Though produced
village by village, in
the local village dairy (the "fruitière"), a lot of
Comté
is matured in industrial cellars by large dairy companies
such as Jurador
Comté cheese
generally comes without holes in it; but sometimes it may have small
holes. Like Cantal, Comté comes in different varieties,
sometimes called "fruité"
or "salé" (fruity or salty). Fruité
Comté is often more elastic; salé is usually a
little more brittle. The most expensive Comté
is "Comté vieux" (old Comté), which is generally
aged over six months and possibly over a year. Comté
is the traditional cheese used in a cheese
"fondue", and also for "raclette" (see below).
A cheese similar to
comté is Beaufort,
made in a similar manner in the French alps. Beaufort tends
to be stronger tasting than Comté, and the taste is also
slightly different.
(On the
cheese map, the three large cheeses centre right are -top to bottom-
Comté, Emmental and Beaufort).
Emmental
Emmental is your traditional cheese with holes in it. It is not an
appellation contrôlée cheese, and is thus produced
over a large area of
France, notably in the east. It lacks the finesse
of Comté, and is generally produced industrially, though
industrial producers have their own
label of quality for this cheese.
Mimolette
A round cheese, made in the area of Lille in the north of France. It's
orange colour is the result of the addition of natural coloring. The
cheese was originally made as a French variation of the Dutch Edam
cheese, to which it is very similar.
(Tomme
des) Pyrénées
This slightly-cooked hard cheese is produced, obviously, in the
Pyrenees - though it
does not benefit from an appellation contrôlée
label.
Pyrenees comes with a distinctive black skin. Generally speaking it is
a fairly bland cheese that will appeal to those who do not like
strong-tasting cheeses.
Reblochon:
A rich soft pressed cheese
made in the Alps; it has quite a strong flavour, and a creamy texture.
2. Soft cheeses
There
are literally
hundreds of soft cheeses in France; each region has its own
specialities.
Many of these - notably those with appellation
contrôlée -
are manufactured in small units, and (with notable
exceptions such as Brie and St. Nectaire) if you want to buy
one, you must
buy a whole cheese.
Brie
There are two sorts of Brie, Brie de Meaux and Brie de Melun,
both appellation contrôlée cheeses named
after two
nearby towns in the the country some fifty miles south east of Paris.
Brie comes as a thin round cheese about 20 inches in diameter, with a
soft white crust. This crust is eaten, not cut off! Brie is a
very mild creamy cheese that should appeal to anyone who does not enjoy
strong tasting cheese.
Camembert:
A cheese from Normandy,
Camembert is known and imitated worldwide. A ripe Camembert should be
just soft on the inside, but not too runny. A young Camembert will tend
to be hard and dry, and rather tasteless; an overripe Camembert, going
yellowish on the outside, will tend to smell quite strongly and is not
to be reccommended other than to those who enjoy strong cheeses. The
crust of a Camembert is usually eaten.
Supermarkets are full of
Camembert lookalikes, since any similar cheese that is not manufactured
in the appellation contrôlée area in Normandy
cannot call
itself Camembert. These lookalikes tend to be sold young. To test a
Camembert or a lookalike, open the box (not the protective wrapping
paper!) and press gently. The cheese should be just soft, but not
spongy.
Epoisses
A fairly strong "rind-washed" soft cheese from the Burgundy
region.
Thicker than a Camembert, Epoisses, like other rind washed cheeses, is
yellowish on the outside, and
white on the inside. The white centre is often almost crumbly, while
the cheese under the skin remains very soft. Epoisses has a distinctive
taste, shared with a similar cheese from a bit further north "Langres";
both of these cheeses are appellation
contrôlée cheeses, and are
admirable accompaniments for red wine. Another cheese in the
same family is Maroilles,
made in the north of France
Mont d'Or
This very distinctive appellation
contrôlée cheese
from Franche
Comté, (known as Vacherin in
Switzerland), is manufactured along the French-Swiss border, at
altitudes of at least 800 metres. Like Comté that is made in
the
same region, it is a cheese whose manufacturing process has changed
little over the centuries. This rind washed cheese matures in
a round frame made of
a thin strip of local spruce wood. In the course of maturing, this wood
imparts a delicious aroma into the cheese which is later packaged and
sold in round boxes made from the same wood.
Unfortunately, Mont d'Or is a
seasonal cheese
and is not manufactured in the summer months because the milk quality
in the regin is different when the cows have rich summer pastures to
graze on.
This cheese comes with an
undulating beige
crust, and under the crust the cheese itself is soft to runny. Though
it is quite a strong cheese, Mont d'Or is not usually a sharp cheese.
It tends to appeal to all tastes.
In recent years,
local dairies have
looked for ways to produce and market a cheese similar to Mont d'Or
year-round. The most successful imitation is called Edel de
Cleron,
made in the Franche Comté region, but in a dairy at a lower
altitude. Like Mont d'Or, Edel is packaged in spruce wood, to give it
the distinctive aroma.
Munster
A fairly strong rind-washed soft cheese from the Vosges
mountains in Eastern
France. Munster is definitely not a cheese for those who do not like
strong tasting varieties. It comes in two varieties, normal and "au
cumin" (with cumin seed). Darker on the outside than Langres or
Epoisses, Munster generally has a thicker rind which some eat, others
cut off. Even an unripe Munster is tasty; a ripe one - which may well
be quite hard on the inside - will be very strong. However, like other
strong cheeses, Munster should never have an acrid taste. If it does,
it is over-ripe.
Pont
l'Evèque
A creamy soft cheese, uncooked and unpressed, from the coastal region
of Normandy,
south of Deauville; this is one of the oldest cheeses in France, and
has been documented since the 12th century.
Saint
Nectaire
Some claim that this is the greatest of French cheeses - and possibly
this could be true for an exceptionally good cheese; but Saint Nectaire
- an appellation contrôlée cheese from the
mountains of the Auvergne - is,
alas, a cheese that varies considerably in
quality and taste. To start with there are two distinct types, the farm
variety and the dairy variety. The farm variety is generally better and
more expensive, the dairy variety, usually found in supermarkets, is
frequently sold too young. When this cheese is young, it is quite dry
and hard; a properly matured Saint Nectaire should be soft and elastic,
with a slight tendency to flow if left at room temperature. One does
not eat the rind of a Saint Nectaire.
A cheese very similar to Saint Nectaire
- notably to the variety found in supermarkets - is Savaron,
a non-appellation cheese that is also produced in the Auvergne but
generally by industrial dairies.
Blue
cheeses
 Bleu d'Auvergne -
An
appellation contrôlée cheese whose quality and
taste can vary considerably
, going from the bland to the sharp. Even in a supermarket, you can ask
to taste before you buy. Specific varieties of Bleu d'Auvergne include
the ancient Bleu de
Laqueille
Bleu de Bresse -
Not an appellation contrôlée cheese, but a French
industrial dairy's attempt to imitate the success of Danish blue. Soft
and almost spreadable cheese.
Bleu des Causses
- An appellation
contrôlée cheese which is generally
delicious and strong tasting, without being sharp. A cows-milk cheese,
sometimes quite crumbly, manufactured in the same area as Roquefort and
quite similar tasting.
Bleu
de Gex - A blue from the swiss
border, rather hard and not very strong.
Fourme
d'Ambert - a mild blue cheese from the
Auvergne, often with an almost nutty flavour. No-one should find this
too strong.
Roquefort
- The
most famous of France's blue cheeses, though not necessarily the best.
Roquefort is Appellation
contrôlée cheese, made from the milk of one single
breed
of sheep, the "Lacaune" breed. The cheese has been made since the
Middle Ages, and has
been famous for many centuries; more recently it has been the
object of intense and successful marketing, making it into a
virtually industrial product. Over 18,000 tons of Roquefort are
manufactured each year, and the cheese is exported worldwide. Though
made in the "causses" mountains of
southern France, in the department of the Aveyron, and matured in
caves, a lot of the milk used in the
making of Roquefort is imported into the region.
Other
cheeses
Goat's
cheeses:
Crottin de Chavignol,
Valençay, etc...
There are dozens of different goats' cheeses, and many local producers
market their cheese under their own local village or regional name.
Goats' cheeses can be sold either very young (frais), when they are
soft and spreadable, medium matured, when they are still soft, but not
spreadable, or fully matured, when they are hard.
Ewe's milk cheeses:
Ineguy :
pressed cheese from the Basque country,
similar to other southern European ewe's milk cheeses such as Pecorino.
Some
modern
dairy cheeeses
Saint Agur (a soft
blue cheese, made in the
Auvergne) , Brillat-Savarin
(an almost buttery soft cheese...
delicious, but watch the cholesterol...),
Roulade,
Saint Albray, Port Salut, Boursin (a cream
cheese with
herbs and garlic).
Raclette
Raclette is a mass-produced industrial cheese designed for a
"raclette", i.e. a meal in which thin slices of cheese are heated and
melted then poured over baked potatoes and eaten with gherkins,
mountain ham and other accompaniments. Raclette is an easy and
convivial meal, where everyone serves themselves from the
raclette grill which is placed in the middle of the table.
(Traditionally, the cheese was melted in front of a hot wood fire).
However, "raclette" cheese is not the best cheese for a raclette.
Prefer Comté (the best) or even Cantal.
Generic terms:
The words "tomme" and "fourme"
are generic words that can describe several different types of cheese.
Etymologically, the French word for cheese, "fromage" is a diminutive
of the word "fourme".
Unusual
cheeses
Cancoillotte
-this very
distinctive comes from Franche Comté; it is a runny cheese
strongly
flavoured with garlic, and is very much an acquired taste. It can be
eaten cold or hot.
Cheeses and wine.
You'll read a lot of pompous
advice about how such and
such a cheese goes well with such and such a wine. When this is not
merely a marketing gambit by regional tourist boards and local farmers
associations, anxious to sell as much local produce as possible, it is
often just sophisticated brain-washing. The truth of the
matter
is that cheese and wine go together, and as long as you follow a few
basic guidelines, you can match a wide range of wines with any cheese.
There is one exception; sweet white wines do not go well with
cheese - unless the cheese is being used in a sweet/sour combination.
Red wines go best with most
cheeses, though
with some very strong cheeses it is better to choose a light-bodied red
wine. Dry white wines also go well with cheese, especially with tasty
but mild cheeses. But in the end, it has to be a matter of individual
choice. Your idea of what goes well together is just as good
as
the next man's - even if the next man claims to be an expert. It's your
taste against his.
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