Part II

Le Fromage

The previous post is about the wine part of this lovely afternoon, this part will discuss the cheese. Many people associate France with cheese, the most common being Brie - very delicious and expensive in the US.

Even though France is associated with cheese, the US is the number one producer, and France following second. However, France consumes the most cheese followed by Italy.

France produces 500 different varieties of cheese.

90% comes from cows milk
5% comes from sheeps milk
5% comes from goat milk

Cheese can be produced in two ways after the milk naturally solidifies, which is yogurt


1. Solidified milk is strained and what is left used as cheese. This creates the soft cheeses such as brie and camembert.


2. Solidified milk is pressed to eliminate the milk. This creates the hard cheeses such as comté and gruyère.Salt is always added to preserve and give flavor
Soft cheese has the bacteria from mushrooms (penicillium) added, which creates the tough rind

Camembert

Normandy • Cows milk• Soft • Soaked in salt water

Comté


Montpellier • Cows milk • Hard • Salt injected

The most produced, exported, and eaten cheese in France, is 1/3 of production

Pelardon

Montpellier• Goats milk• Soft • Needs just 1 liter of milk to make

Hazelnut flavor, but no hazelnut added

Roquefort

South France • Sheeps milk • Blue family

Legend of Roquefort:

A young shepherd was keeping his sheep at the foot of the Massif de Combalou. As he was resting in a cave, just about to savor a delicious piece of rye bread with some sheep cheese on top, he saw a charming shepherdess go by. He quickly stuck his meal in a corner of the cave to run after the pretty woman, and forgot all about it. The young boy came across his bread a couple of months later. He noticed that as it had molded, the bread had turned blue and the piece of sheep cheese as well had been covered with bluish-green veins. As he was starving, he sank his teeth into it despite the strong odor the cheese was releasing and, mind you, found the delicacy much to his liking. Thus, Penicillium roqueforti came to be, born of a mysterious alchemy between the humidity and natural ventilation of a cave on a piece of dry bread. As if by magic, Roquefort cheese came to life.