7 Categories of French Cheese

French nationals take their cheese highly serious. They eat it nearly daily, not so much as a snack, however as a separate course at lunch and dinner time. It is usually just served with baguette, and sometimes with a green salad, fruit and nuts. Here are the 7 most common cheese categories one shall find.

 

1) FRESH CHEESE  Fromage Frais and Boursin, are rindless and moist, almost mousse like in texture and mild to the palate.

 

2) BLOOMY RIND such as Brie and Camembert, possess a fuzzy white rind with an interior that gradually becomes quite soft at room temperature. A lovely recipe using Brie or Camembert is Croquettes with fresh Genovese Basil.

 

3) NATURAL RIND such as Chabichou and Crottin de Chavignol have a wrinkled rind  and over a period of time, this rind becomes a bluish grey. Their interiors are tender and soft.

 

4) WASHED RIND cheeses such as Epoisses has a sticky orange rind resulting from bathe-ing the cheese rinds in salt water, and it posseses a pungent strong aroma and flavor.

 

5) SEMI SOFT PRESSED, for example Port Salut, has a rind that ranges from thin and leather like; and pale ivory cream in color when fresh or slightly aged, and greyish and thicker rinded, when aged. Another cheese in this genre is Morbier. These two cheeses are pressed lightly to eliminate their moisture.

 

6)  HARD CRUSTED varieties include, French Raclette, Cantal and French Gruyère and have thick leathery rinds that are often waxed. These cheeses are usually large and pressed for days to remove their moisture, and are aged.

 

7) BLUE VEIN French cheese varieites include Roquefort and Bleu d ´Auvergne, and have very gritty, rough and / or dry yet sticky rinds, and these rinds are made with a special mold that is added to the milk, and when a wheel is punctured by needles, air gets into the cheese, thus, turning the mold a blue color henceforth, creating a marble or shattered look of blue veins.

 

Happy Holidays,

Margaux Cintrano.