French Cheese

France is known as the "Land of Cheese", which means "La france aux 1000 fromages", boasting that there are a thousand kinds of cheese in France. In fact, there are more than 400 varieties of cheese in France, and new products are often produced, mainly from cow's or goat's milk.

Categorization of French cheeses

Fresh cheese: watery, unfermented, unripened, mainly soft cheese. Some are flavored with spices such as pepper, garlic or aromatic vegetables.

Main products: fromages blancs, petits-suisses, chevres frais

Making process: without ripening, the casein content of the milk flocculates under the action of the enzyme lactase, and then becomes a gelatinous state. The coagulation process must be maintained at a constant temperature of 15 - 20 degrees Celsius and high humidity for 12 - 24 hours. After curdling, the milk is drained of some of its water, using the traditional filter paper method in the workshop and centrifugal force in the factory.

Characteristics: These cheeses have a very short shelf life and have a soft, moist texture, with some giving off a fresh, creamy flavor with a hint of sourness, salty or sweet, and some with added spices, which are very refreshing and can be eaten straight away like a snack. Those who haven't tried cheese before can try this type of cheese first.

Rind soft cheese: the rind is soft and felt-like. It gets its name from the moldy, flower-like fuzz that is produced during refining.

Main products: le Brie de Meaux, le Brie de Lelun, le Camembert de Normandie, le Chaource ou le Neufchatel.

Process: The rind of a soft cheese is a mixture of coagulated crystals in which lactic acid bacteria play a major role. The pre-ripening process takes about 20 hours, with fermentation at 10-15 degrees. The addition of rennet allows the milk to coagulate within 2 hours. Both the degree of acidification and the use of rennet determine the time needed for coagulation, and the curd can become slightly acidic (le Chaource) due to lactic acid, or the flavor can be softened by rennet (le Camembert de Normandie). The curd drains on its own, and there is no or very little need to cut it afterward, and very little need to knead it. After one or two days in a ventilated, constant-temperature fermentation room (15 degrees), the cheese reaches the hands of an expert for salting and rubbing, where penicillium is sprinkled onto the surface of the cheese in regular swirls from a sprinkling bottle. A fine layer of fuzz appeared throughout the day, like wearing a velvet dress for a day.

Characteristics: This is a representative French cheese, creamy, fermented and ripe; the rind is often covered with a white fungal down, which can be eaten to keep the mold on the rind, or removed according to taste. The texture is very soft and creamy.

Suggestion: it is best served between July and November, with new wines such as Bordeaux and BEAUJOLAIS

Washed rind soft cheese: this cheese has a very strong flavor and comes in the form of a paste. In refining, it is washed with brine and then repeatedly brushed with brine to speed up the hardening; it has an orange-colored rind and is moist.

Main products: le Livarot, le Maroilles, le Pont-l'Eveque, le Munster, le Langres, le Rollot, les boulettes d'Avesnes ou le Dauphin...

Process: Washed soft cheese is the twin of rind soft cheese, made with both lactic acid bacteria and rennet. The curdling is so fast that this crucial step takes less than an hour. To facilitate draining, the slightly hard curds are stirred in and salted before becoming soft. The cheese goes to the refiners, where it is turned two or three times a week, scrubbed frequently with brine, and special mushrooms are added to stimulate the red yeast. The rind gradually becomes lubricated, soft and shiny, ranging in color from yellow to orange-red. The soft curd comes in a variety of flavors, from mild to the most delicate and aromatic.

Features: Orange-red skin, soft interior, mellow flavor and aroma.

Suggestions: the best season to eat is in the fall and winter, with wine recommended les Cotes du Rhone, depending on the region with white wine or Bordeaux red wine is also a good match.

Green cheese: also called blue cheese, the name comes from the mold that brings a special taste and flavor. The cheese mass is not compressed or baked and is marbled blue by long needle-like holes passing through it.

Main products: le Roquefort, le Bleu d'Auvergne, les Fourmes d'Ambert et de Montbrison ou le Bleu de Gex...

Procedure: add lactase and rennet to the milk at 32°. The cheese is cut into small cubes, salted and dusted with penicillin mold. The mold causes blue or green marbling on the surface of the cheese, which is then transferred to a humid cellar at a controlled temperature of about 10° for five days. The molds are inverted and transferred to the cheese drying room, where the workers make holes in the cheese with fine needles to allow air to circulate inside the cheese, which gradually stretches out the veins. Next it is transferred to a damp cellar (95%) at a temperature of 12° for a month, and a colder cellar (5°) for a few months before it is finished.

Characteristics: this cheese, which probably originated at the end of the Roman Empire, has a more pungent, strong and pungent flavor.

Suggestion: the best season to eat it is in the fall and winter, and both Bordeaux (St Emilon) and sweet white wines (Sauternes) are good accompaniments.

Goat cheese: a soft cheese with a rind but made exclusively from goat's milk. It can be fresh, soft, medium-dry, dry or hard. It can sometimes be sprinkled with spices or rolled in grape leaves.

Main products: le Selle-sur-Cher, le Chabichou du Poitou, le Sainte-Maure de Touraine, le Picodon de l'Ardèche ou de la Dr?me, le Banon, le Pelardon, le Valencay ou le Crottin de Chavignol...

Procedure: This type of cheese is made in much the same way as other cheeses, the only difference being that the raw material is goat's milk. The coagulation of goat's milk is obtained either naturally or with lactic yeast and rennet. After the whey is dispensed, the curds are put into molds, inverted, drained of water within a day, wiped clean and left in a ventilated room for a week. After a few days, blue mold begins to appear on the surface of the cheese. The last step before going into the cellar is a quick scattering of dry salt. After five to six weeks in the cellar the cheeses slowly become dry and taste either fresh or hard after being de-watered. Commercially available goat cheeses are often coated with a white powder or spices.

Characteristics: Small and varied in shape, mostly cylindrical and prismatic, its flavor is slightly acidic and pungent.

Suggestion: spring and summer are the best seasons to eat goat's cheese, and it is recommended that it be paired with a SAUMUR red wine

Hard unripened cheeses: these medium-hard cheeses are compressed to speed up draining, and the ripening process lasts between two and three months, making them very delicate in flavor.

Main products: le Cantal, le St Nectaire, le Salers, le Reblochon, l'Ossau-Iraty , le Morbier, raclette ou le Laguiole.

Process: the milk is heated up to 25° and is slightly acidic, and the curd is obtained after 30 to 45 minutes of curdling. 45 minutes of coagulation to obtain curd. It is kneaded and squeezed, the whey is drained off, cut and pressed into small grains, scalded in hot water at 40°, then squeezed again, salted, and squeezed again, the sourness of the curd being removed during this squeezing process. Finally, there is the refining stage, during which the temperature is maintained at about 15° for a period of time that varies from 15 days for st Paulin to three months for le Cantal and longer for le Salers.

Characteristics: These cheeses have a long shelf life and a mild, smooth flavor that is easily accepted by the general public. Because of its easy-to-dissolve texture, it is often used in a large number of dishes.

Suggestion: The best season to eat it is summer and fall, with white fruit wines such as SAVOIE, but also with red Burgundy.

Hard ripened cheese: this cheese has a very long ripening period, from six months to a year. It is compressed during the refining process so it has a hard texture. The typical holes in an Emmentaler or Comté cheese are the result of the carbon dioxide effect of the refining process.

Main products: le Comte, le Beaufort ou l'Emmental...

Process: After heating between 63° and 65°, the milk is returned to a temperature of 32° where the enzyme lactase is added and the enzyme rennet is mixed in. After half an hour, the milk curdles into a very tight block of cheese. The cheese is cut into small particles to speed up the flow of whey. After stirring at 22°, slowly heat the milk to 55° and maintain this temperature for about an hour. Drain the whey off with a large cloth before putting it into the mold. This is followed by several hours of squeezing to make all the particles adhere tightly together. The lactic acid bacteria produce lactic acid by absorbing the lactose, and then the cheeses are given a brine bath. After almost three weeks in a cold cellar at 12 degrees, they are transferred to a cellar at 20 degrees. There they will undergo a veritable gasification reaction brought about by the carbonic acid gas emitted by the acidophilus-like bacteria. Over the course of a few weeks, many small holes, also known as "eyes", are created in the cheese. It is then returned to the cold cellar to slow down the gassing process and the real refining stage begins. Some cheeses, such as la Comte and le Beaufort, do not go through the hot cellar, which is why they are fluffy but do not have small holes.

Characteristics: They are made after a long period of pressing and cooking, which results in a hard texture. The cheese has a slightly salty taste that gets better the more you chew it, with a sweet and intriguing aroma. It can be transported and preserved for a long time.

Suggestion: The refining process of the cheese ranges from three to ten months, and although it is produced in all seasons, it is advisable to consume it in spring and summer. It can be paired with white fruit wines, such as Franc-comtois, or with red wine.

Melted cheese: one or several extruded cheese masses, cooked and uncooked, made by melting and adding milk, cream or butter.