Brie

The simple name ‘Brie’ is a common name defined by French law. This soft-ripened cheese has a very bloomy, downy, white and relatively thick rind. The paste can be creamy next to the rind, and generally includes a chalky white center. The cheese must only be made of cow’s milk. The law defines two sizes for this cheese: one with a diameter between 8.6 and 93.3 in., and the “Petit Brie”, with a diameter between 5.5 and 8.6 in. Brie can also be sold in the form of “Pointe de Brie”, a cheese also defined by French law.

Double Cream

Both double and triple-crème cheeses have extra cream added before the curd is formed. According to French law, a double-crème cheese must have between 60-75% butterfat. It is made in relatively small wheels (no more than about five pounds), from curd that is handled as little as possible from step one to the end of the aging process.

Camembert

Camembert is one of the world’s best-known cheeses, and it originated in Normandy region. This famous soft-ripened cheese made from cow’s cheese with a bloomy rind, has become an emblem of French cuisine.
A portion of Camembert was included in the military ration during World War I, contributing to its popularity and industrialization.

The rind is downy and streaky white on the surface; the paste is ivory to bright yellow and can have a creamy layer next to the rind, but generally has a chalky, grainy white centre.

Délice de Bourgogne

Made with cow’s milk, Délice de Bourgogne is a triple-cream cheese that is matured for at least seven days in a cellar to allow its bloomy rind to develop. It is available in two formats: a seven-ounce format and a larger format to be cut at the cheese counter.

Pont l’Évêque

Pont l’Évêque is a soft-ripened, washed-rind cheese made from cow’s milk.
The cheese, which takes its name from the small town of Pont- l’Évêque situated between Lisieux and Deauville, was already very appreciated in medieval times in Normandy. It was first called ‘angelon’, ‘angelot’, and then ‘augelot’ in the 16th century. It has been known as Pont-l’Évêque since the 17th century.

It is available in four formats: Grand Pont l’Évêque, Pont l’Évêque, Petit Pont l’Évêque and Demi Pont l’Évêque. It possesses a thin, pinkish, cross-ruled rind covered with powdery white down. The cheese is smooth, shiny and sprinkled with small holes.

Langres

This soft-ripened, washed-rind cheese is made with whole cow’s milk in the Champagne region. Its characteristic shape is easily recognisable: since it is never turned over during maturation, a hollow form in the top that deepens as the cheese drains.

The tradition of this cheese can be traced back to the 13th century, as it is mentioned in a song composed by the Dominican prior of the city of Langres.

The rind is light yellow to orange, and sometimes a white down forms as the cheese matures. The cheese is creamy next to the rind, while the centre remains white, firm and crumbly.

Époisses

Époisses is a soft-ripened, washed-rind cheese made with whole cow’s milk. It comes from the area around the town of the same name, within a zone that stretches over a large part of Côte d’Or and includes a few municipalities of Haute Marne and Orne.

It was probably a religious community living in Époisses in the 16th century who passed on to the farmers of this area of Burgundy the expertise necessary to make this cow’s milk cheese. The rind becomes sticky and begins to glisten as it is regularly washed with a mixture of salt water and Marc de Bourgogne. The maturation period lasts six to eight weeks.

This very creamy cheese is sold in a wooden box. Its rind is smooth or slightly wrinkly and shiny, of a colour varying from orange-tinged ivory to brick red depending on its degree of maturity. Its colour is light beige on the outside and white in the centre.

Munster

This famous and soft washed-rind cheese is produced in the east of France and originated in a monastery. Its name is derived from the word ‘monastery’. It was created by Benedictine monks who settled in Fecht Valley in Lorraine, where it is also called ‘Géromé’ after the town where it was sold. It is also produced and matured in Alsace.

Munster is made from cows’ milk and considered to be a strong cheese, but this is mainly true of its smell, as it is relatively mild on the palate. Prior to gracing the consumer’s plate, this quality cheese is ripened in a damp cellar where its rind is regularly washed.

Port Salut

Port Salut is a semi-soft cow’s milk cheese from Pays de la Loire in France, with a distinctive orange rind and a mild flavour. The cheese is produced in wheels approximately 23 cm (9 inches) in diameter, weighing approximately 2 kg (4.4 lb).

The cheese was developed by Trappist monks during the 19th century at Port-du-Salut Abbey in Entrammes. The monks, many of whom had left France during the French revolution of 1789, learned cheese-making skills to support themselves abroad, and brought those skills back upon their return after the Bourbon Restoration.

Raclette

Heated over a wood fire or an electric element, Raclette melts uniformly and is delicious served over potatoes. ‘Fromage à raclette’ is matured for at least two months. A great deal of this type of cheese is made in the Alps and in Franche-Comté. The colour of the cheese varies from white to pale yellow, while its rind is uniformly golden yellow.

Fourme d’Ambert

It has a thin, downy, stone-grey rind. Its colour is ivory white, looking aerated and sprinkled with blue-grey spots that form in the holes; sometimes showing blue veins.

The history of Fourme d’Ambert is documented from the first feudal eras, around the 8th century. However, it is likely that the cheese was already being made in the Arvernes area before the Roman conquest.
It originated in the Monts du Forez, where summers are hot, winters are long and cold.

Blue d’Auvergne

Bleu d’Auvergne is one of the most famous blue-veined cheeses of the Massif Central. Its production area is mainly in the Puy de Dôme and Cantal but also stretches to neighbouring cantons such as Aveyron, Corrèze, Haute-Loire, Lot and Lozère.

It has a thin, moist, yellowish-orange rind with downy white spots; a moist, shiny texture speckled with grey to green mould which develop in the cavities.

Cantal

This large, dry-rind cheese is exclusively made with whole cow’s milk. The cheese is uncooked and has the specificity of being pressed twice. The curds are crushed between the two pressings and salted in the mass, giving this cheese a grainy, crumbly texture.

The maturation of Cantal requires at least thirty days for a ‘Cantal jeune’ and can be continued for over eight months for a ‘Cantal vieux’. For intermediary maturation periods, the Cantal is referred to as ‘entre-deux’ (with a minimum of ninety day’s maturation).

The firm texture of this cheese reveals an ivory colour when it is turned out of the mould, and gradually becomes dark yellow. Initially soft, the texture can become slightly crumbly for the more mature cheeses. As the rind develops, it gradually becomes thicker, going from greyish-white to gold and then brown. It can be dotted with ochre to brown spots.

Comté

This cooked pressed cheese is made from raw cow’s milk. The Montbéliarde and Simmental breeds used for this cheese are exclusively fed with hay from a specifically designated zone.

The cheese is produced in the Jura Mountains, near French and Swiss border. Since the 11th century, farmers in this region have been joining forces to gather raw milk produced each day by the various herds to produce wheels of Comté ‘à la fruitière’, a traditional cooperative system.

One wheel of this cheese is a concentrate of 132 gallons of milk. The maturation of Comté lasts at least four months, but can be extended to more than twenty-four months.

Comté has a thin, dry, smooth, brown rind. The colour varies from creamy yellow in the winter to a deeper yellow during the grazing period; its appearance is smooth and dense and reveals few or no holes.

Beaufort

This famous pressed cooked cheese comes from the region in France, Savoie and is easily recognizable by its concave heel. Its peculiar shape originally enabled the cheeses produced during the summer to be strapped down for easier transport to the cellars in the valley. Summer Beaufort is made with milk produced from June through October, when the cows are still in the pastures. Beaufort ‘chalet d’alpage’ is also made in the summertime but is specifically produced from the milk of a single herd of cows!

Wheel with a thin, smooth brown rind dotted with white spots. The cheese is very smooth, dense, homogenous and free of holes; the colour is more or less yellow depending on the production season.