People & Place
French Cheeses
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Brie
Cream, butter, hazelnut: bring a fully ripe wedge of Brie de Meaux close and those are the aromas its specification tells you to expect.
Brie de Meaux
A broad, perforated pelle à brie rises with another scoop of curd.
Brie de Melun
Your knife passes through a white rind streaked red or brown, into a centre slowly giving up its firmness.
Camembert
A ladleful of curd settles into a mould.
Camembert de Normandie
A hand, a ladle, then a pause.
Coulommiers
Look up into the metal framework of Coulommiers’ cheese hall, built in 1887, and picture the surrounding farms bringing their cheeses to market.
Roquefort
Step into the cool, humid air beneath Roquefort-sur-Soulzon.
Everything in this section
- ComtéPicture a wheel of Comté at the cheese counter: 32 to 45 kg, with the Jura massif tucked into its flavours.
- BeaufortFollow the curve of a Beaufort wheel with your eye.
- AbondanceLet your eye follow the inward curve of an Abondance wheel, then look beneath its cloth-marked rind, golden yellow to br
- ReblochonYour knife slips through a thin yellow to orange-yellow rind into a supple, ivory centre, sometimes dotted with small op
- Tomme de SavoieYour knife passes through a mottled grey rind into a pale, supple centre.
- Raclette de SavoieA slice softens, stretches and slips over a potato.
- Mont d'Or ou Vacherin du Haut-DoubsLift the lid and the woods arrive before your spoon does.
- MorbierAcross the pale, supple face of your Morbier runs a dark line.
- ÉpoissesThe smell reaches you before the knife does.
- MunsterYou notice the orange rind first.
- LangresA few drops of Champagne settle into the hollow on top of a Langres.
- ChaourceYour knife slips through Chaource’s fluffy white rind, then meets a small surprise: two textures in one slice.
- MaroillesFirst, you see the orange-red rind.
- Pont-l'ÉvêqueThe rind announces itself before you take a bite.
- LivarotLean towards the orange rind and Livarot announces itself before you take a bite.
- NeufchâtelFirst comes the white bloom of mould.
- Saint-NectaireLet your eye travel over that patchwork rind, then down to the supple ivory centre.
- CantalCut into one of Cantal’s substantial, dry-rinded cylinders and you find a firm paste with a rather eventful past.
- SalersMilk flows into a wooden vat in the Auvergne uplands, meeting a living surface.
- LaguioleFresh hay, then dried hazelnut.
- Bleu d'AuvergneA large needle sinks into pale, yielding cheese.
- Fourme d'AmbertLong needles slip through a tall cylinder of Fourme d'Ambert, opening little airways for the blue mould inside.
- Bleu des CaussesCool, humid air slips through cracks in limestone scree.
- Ossau-IratyFirst comes the firm bite.
- Crottin de ChavignolA mouthful of mushrooms and woodland.
- Sainte-Maure de TouraineLook closely at this ash-coated log: there is writing on the straw running through its middle.
- ValençayYour knife slips through a grey, ash-coated rind to reveal a porcelain-white heart.
- Selles-sur-CherCut through the charcoal-grey coat and a smooth white heart appears, framed by a narrow grey edge.
- Pouligny-Saint-PierreA tall pyramid stands on your cheese board, its square base beneath an ivory finish or a blue-tinged rind.
- Chabichou du PoitouLook closely at that little barrel bung on the cheese counter.
- RocamadourSlip beneath Rocamadour’s fine, velvety skin and you reach a soft layer forming around the centre.
- BanonUntie the raffia and ease back the brown chestnut leaves.
- PélardonPicture goats picking their way through the scrub and wooded hills of southern France.
- PicodonYour knife slips through a young Picodon’s supple paste.
- Brillat-SavarinFirst comes fresh cream and butter.
- Saint-MarcellinYour knife meets a small, pale disc.
- MimoletteCut into Mimolette and the surprise is waiting: vivid orange beneath a rough, pitted rind.
- BrocciuLook into the hot whey and you can see delicate protein flocks gathering, ready for the draining baskets.
- Tomme des PyrénéesAt the cheese counter, you pause over three very different exteriors: black, gold and a mottled natural rind.
- Bleu de Gex Haut-JuraCut into the wheel and pale, irregular blue-green veins appear beneath the rind.
- Fourme de MontbrisonA cylinder of blue cheese rests in a wooden gutter, its orange rind taking shape against spruce.
- ChevrotinCut through the fine white bloom and thin, pinkish rind, and Chevrotin gives way to a supple centre that bends rather th
- Saint-FélicienYou reach for a knife.
- CancoillotteWatch Cancoillotte slip from a spoon towards your bread.
- CharolaisA small barrel of cheese stands on the board, taller than it is wide, its ivory rind touched with blue.
- MâconnaisCut through that little cone of Mâconnais and you meet a pale, fine-textured centre beneath a natural rind.
- SoumaintrainThe rind announces itself before you reach for the knife.
- Saint-PaulinPicture the cellars at Port du Salut, enlarged from 1850 as the monks made more room for cheesemaking.
- Rigotte de CondrieuCut into this little goat’s cheese and follow your nose: hazelnut, woodland and whey are the aromas its specification pr
- Tome des BaugesA mottled grey wheel rests on rough spruce boards in an Alpine cellar.
- Bleu du Vercors-SassenagePicture your tax payment arriving as cheese.
- Brousse du RoveA spoon slips into a slender cornet of white cheese.
- Mothais sur FeuilleTurn over a Mothais sur Feuille and a little woodland impression comes into view.
- French GruyèreCut into a wheel of French Gruyère IGP and there they are: openings the size of peas and cherries, scattered through the
- Emmental de SavoieLook into a cut wheel and you might think of small cherries.
- PérailPicture a stone sink, a little sheep’s milk and barely enough room for a small, flat cheese.
- Petit-SuisseYour spoon nudges a little white cylinder.
- Emmental Français Est-CentralYour knife passes through a hard, dry rind into ivory paste, with conspicuous holes opening across the cut face.
- Tome Fraîche de l'AubracLift your spoon from a pan of aligot.