In 1962, French President Charles de Gaulle famously asked, “How can you govern a country which has two hundred and forty-six varieties of cheese?”
France is, in fact, the country that produces the most varieties of cheeses. Indeed, with all the diversity within each variety of cheese, there is really anywhere between 1,000 and 1,600 distinct types of French cheese!
Since moving to France, it has become my unofficial mission to try as many cheeses as I can — and I’d like to share some of my discoveries with you here.
One thing that I find truly illuminating is the variety of goat cheeses available, known affectionately as chèvre. From soft and buttery to in-your-face pungent, there is a goat cheese for every taste.
Bouyguette du Segala from Tarn in Occitanie is a soft raw goat’s milk cheese with a natural rind. It is creamy and melts in the mouth. It is adorned with a sprig of rosemary, which gives the cheese a pleasant flavour. This is one of my go-tos!
Le Figou from Haute Vienne is a pleasant cheese for sharing over a cheese board or with dessert. Shaped like a large fig, this soft but crumbly cheese holds a surprise: there is confit fig inside!
Briquette Ribière from Limousin tastes like a typical goat cheese, but slightly more bitter. The ask that covers this isn’t just for aesthetics: it helps with the drying of the cheese.
Maconnais (AOP Macon) is a small cheese produced in the French region of Burgundy. This can be found in cheese shops everywhere here, at varying stages of ripeness. When it is young, the rind is white and the interior is creamy. As it ages, the cheese hardens and blue penicillium envelopes the rind. It is good at all stages of ripeness, especially with a nice glass of wine from the region!
Possibly my two favourite chèvre that I have discovered here are Ovalie au Thym and Mothais sur Feuille, both from Deux-Sèvres.
Ovalie is a goat cheese that is infused with herbs — in this case, thyme. Rosemary is another popular flavour. It is creamy and decadent. Another one of my go-tos, I like to enjoy this on a freshly baked poppy seed baguette.
Mothais sur Feuille is particularly unique because this soft cheese is dried and ripened on a chestnut leaf, imparting a woody and nutty flavour. It is ever so slightly sweet.
Even though chèvre is the main topic of this post, I have to give a special mention to a few different types of soft cow milk cheeses :
Fougerus, from Seine-et-Marne, is a brie-like cheese, with a fern leaf placed on top. The leaf gives it woody and earthy characteristics. It is great with local honey.
Speaking of brie, Brie de Meaux is a particularly strong version of this cheese that would appeal to anyone who prefers big flavours. Of course, I can’t forget to mention Brie Truffé, which is typically Brie de Meaux with a layer of confit truffles in the middle.
This was just a small “taste” of some of the cheeses I have discovered here in France. I could write pages and pages pages of all the fromages I have tried here, especially from Jura and Savoie, but I will save those for other posts. For now, I will take a break from writing and enjoy a slice or two with a freshly baked baguette from my local boulangerie.