Cheese Flashcards
Morbier
Morbier is a cheese named after the town of Morbier in Franche-Comté. It is a semi-soft cow milk cheese with an elastic texture, and characteristic black stripe of ash running through its centre. Its texture is mild, and the taste is rich and buttery.
Tomme de Chouans
Tomme de Chouans is a mild milk cheese from the Vendée department of Pays de la Loire. It has a soft, chewy and slightly creamy texture and a delicate taste, and a characteristic striped rind.
Trappe de Timadeuc
Trappe de Timadeuc is a pasteurised cow’s milk cheese, originally produced by Trappist monks. It is sold in wheels 18-20 wide, weighing about 1.8kg. The rind is yellow and elastic in texture, and it has a mild taste.
Brie de Meaux
Île-de-France is the birthplace of one of France’s most famous and beloved cheeses, Brie de Meaux. It is a soft-ripened cow’s cheese, and was the model for Camembert from Normandy. Originating from the region of Brie (modern day Seine-et-Marne).
Boursault
First produced in the Val-de-Marne region, Boursault is a triple cream cheese similar to brie, made with pasteurised cow’s milk. It has a bloomy rind with a soft centre ideal for spreading. Boursault has a very high content of fat (around 75%), giving it a soft and creamy consistency and buttery, salty taste.
Camembert
The most famous cheese out of Normandy is none other than Camembert, a wheel of soft, creamy cheese made from pasteurised or unpasteurised cow’s milk. Now found all over the world, the first camembert was produced in the 18th century in the small commune of Camembert. It is similar to Brie, with a white bloomy rind and yellow centre. The texture is soft and smooth, and the taste is creamy, buttery, milky, and slightly sweet.
Caprice des Dieux
Caprice des Dieux is a commercially-produced cow’s milk cheese, with a bloomy rind and a creamy, mild taste.
Olivet Cendré
Olivet Cendré is a cow’s milk cheese produced in the Loire valley town of Olivet. It is traditionally aged for 1-3 months in containers of ash of grapevine clippings, giving it a distinctive grey skin. The texture of Olivet Cendré is smooth and supple, with a strong and earthy smell, and a mild taste.
Neufchatel
Neufchatel is one of France’s oldest cheeses, a soft mold-ripened cow’s milk cheese. It is made in Normandy, often formed into heart shapes. Similar to Camembert and Brie, Neufchatel has a soft edible rind with a creamy centre, but the taste is saltier and stronger.
Chaumes
From the former Périgord region, Chaumes is a cow’s milk cheese produced in large wheels. It has a pale colour, and a soft and flexible texture with an aromatic rind. The flavour is rich, and ideal for cooking or eating as part of a platter. Its name translates to ‘stubble’, after its textured orange rind.
Époisses
Époisses, also called Époisses de Bourgogne, is a soft smear-ripened, washed rind cow’s milk cheese. Sold in circular boxes about 10-18cm in diameter, it is known for its bright orange rind and famously pungent aroma (rumour has it that it was banned on the Paris metro!). It pairs well with Trappist beer, or sweet wines.
Langres
Langres is an AOC cow’s milk cheese which comes from the Langres plateau in Champagne-Ardennes. It is sold in cylinders about 180g with a soft washed rind of Penicillium candidum, and a creamy centre. The taste is rich and moist, and matches well with Burgundy wine or Champagne.
Le Brin
Le Brin is a soft cow’s milk cheese with a washed rind, from the Rhône-Alpes region. It is typically sold in hexagonal shapes. The texture of Le Brin is creamy, with a mild, nutty, buttery and sweet taste. It is easy to spread and is commonly eaten with bread.
Livarot
Livarot is an AOC cow’s milk cheese from Normandy. It is a washed rind cheese with a strong smell, and sold in characteristic 450g cylinders with an orange rind, and wrapped with dried reedmace. These stripes, similar to the bands of military insignia, give it the nickname ‘The Colonel’. It has a full-bodied taste, with nutty, slightly citrus notes.
Maroilles
Maroilles is an AOC cow’s milk cheese from Picardy and Nord-Pas-de-Calais. It is produced in rectangular blocks, with a distinctive orange rind and yellow inside. It is said to date back to the 10th century. It has a soft, oily, slightly sweet taste.
Mont d’Or
Mont d’Or, (also known as Vacherin de Hauts-Daubs) is a raw cow’s milk cheese developed in France-Comté, and also produced in Switzerland. First developed around 1280CE, it has AOC status. It is a soft cheese with a red washed rind and blue mould, wrapped in spruce tree bark to give it a distinctive aroma and strong and salty taste.
Niolo
Produced on the island of Corsica, Niolo is a soft, creamy white cheese. It is made from unpasteurised goat milk. It has a strong smell and a distinctive nutty flavour.
Port Salut
One of the most famous cheeses from Pays de la Loire is Port Salut, a pasteurised semi-soft cow’s milk. It has a characteristic orange rind, strong smell, and mild taste. It was first developed by Trappist monks during the 19th century, who brought cheese-making skills with them from abroad after fleeing the French Revolution in 1789. The cheese is produced in large 2kg discs and sold in wedges. Port Salut is best enjoyed with fruits, vegetables, or as part of a cheese platter.
Reblochon
One of France’s best known cheeses, AOC designated reblochon is a soft raw cow’s milk cheese from the Alpine region of Haute-Savoie. It is a washed-rind and smear-ripened cheese, with a soft texture and a strong, nutty taste. It is one of the key ingredients of the dish tartiflette.
Tome de Rhuys
Tome de Rhuys is a raw cow milk cheese from the Rhuys Peninsula, Brittany. Made using milk from Breton pie noir cow breed, the 1.9kg wheels of cheese are rubbed with Saint-Armel salt, treated with cheese mites and flour mites, and matured for 70 days. It has a mild, fruity taste.
