154821
How many types of French cheese are there?
Cheese, Fromage in French, cheese in English, common cheese is actually the English translation of cheese, which is the same thing as cheese.
France is known as the “country of cheese” , and it is even said that there are so many varieties of cheese that even if you change one every day, it will not be the same throughout the year. Cheese, like dessert, is the perfect finishing touch to a French favorite for a complete dinner.
In France, only dairy products made by curdling and draining can be called “cheese” (Fromage) . The milk used as raw material can be cow’s milk, goat’s milk or sheep’s milk; it can be uncooked or pasteurized.
There are more than a thousand cheeses in France: every region, every river or valley has its own unique cheese, with its own terroir and taste. France also has a unique and multi-generational tradition in the maturation of cheese.
Cheese is arguably the first food made by humans , but its discovery was entirely accidental. Legend has it that the ancestors made cheese from the stomachs of mammals. The cheese story begins when milk comes into contact with rennet, an enzyme naturally found in the rumen of ruminants, which produces curds and whey.
The earliest cheeses appeared in Mesopotamia and India in the 15th century BC, as evidenced by Mesopotamian frescoes discovered by archaeologists. In that distant era, humans discovered that this dehydrated curd can make food richer and very easy to store.
By 60 AD, the use of rennet to make cheese had become popular. The Roman agronomist Columella suggested putting milk in the belly of a calf to allow it to coagulate, then pouring it into a perforated container to drain, and pressing the curd with a stone or a press. The Roman Empire spread cheese making to its colonies, and it didn’t take long for cheese to conquer Europe.
In France, cheeses are mainly made in specialized cheese workshops and abbeys, so many of the great French cheeses are derived from old abbey recipes, such as: le Pont-l’Évêque, le Munster, le Pont-l’Évêque , Maroille cheese le Maroilles, monk’s head cheese la Tête de Moines and more.
French cheese (Cheese) is very famous, the variety ranks first in the world, there are no less than 1500 kinds of cheese . According to the shape can be divided into 5 categories: soft, semi-hard, hard, blue grain and smoked.
Famous French cheeses include Roquefort, Camembert, Brie, Reblochon, Munster, Sainte- Maure) et al.
Fresh or white cheese
White cheese is thick and smooth in texture and is an unripened variety. They are white in color and are characterized by a high water content (about 77%), with a milder flavor, slightly sour and aromatic.
Typical white cheeses are La faisselle (La faisselle), Petit-suisse (le petit-suisse), Provence (la Brousse de Provence), Anjou white cheese (les crémets d’Anjou), mozzarella (la mozzarella) ), feta cheese (le feta), etc. Among them, mozzarella is a brushed cheese commonly used on pizza, and is often made into salads with tomatoes. Mascarpone, commonly used in desserts, also falls into the category of fresh cheese.
Soft cheese
The most famous of this range are camembert, le brie, le chaource and le neufchâtel.
Soft cheeses with a rind tend to be aged for 2-6 weeks and are characterized by a white skin covered with fuzz from the rapid growth of mold. Balanced palate with mushroom, hazelnut and butter aromas.
Washed soft cheese
This type of cheese has the typical orange rind and ivory-colored inside. Washed soft cheeses have a strong smell, but are actually very soft in taste, and this strong contrast makes washed soft cheeses one of the most popular varieties.
Well-known washed soft cheeses: Le Livarot, l’Époisses, le Maroilles, le Pont-l’Évêque, mango Munster cheese.
Blue cheese
The “notorious” blue cheese is made from cow’s or goat’s milk and, as the name suggests, has a turquoise-blue texture on the inside, which is caused by long needles pierced through the cheese during the maturation process to encourage its Mold growth. The more well-known ones are Roquefort, Auvergne blue cheese (le Bleu d’Auvergne), and Fourme cheese.
Compressed uncooked cheese
There are more than 30 types of this type of cheese in France, usually made by monasteries with cow’s milk or goat’s milk.
Compressed uncooked cheese is not heated above 50°C. Typical cheeses are Mimolette (la Mimolette), Cantal (le Cantal), Savoie (la Tomme de Savoie), Salers (le Salers), Raclette (la Raclette) ), Reblochon cheese (le Reblochon).
Compressed mature cheese
Abondance, Comté, Beaufort, Gruyère, Emmental are all compressed mature cheeses. The lengthy compression that goes into making this type of cheese gives this type of cheese a very hard texture. Large and small cheese eyes and a unique fruity aroma are the distinguishing features of this type of cheese.
The little mouse Jerry’s favorite cheese in the cartoon “Tom and Jerry” is this compressed mature cheese with cheese eyes. These cute cheese eyes are not pierced by bugs, but due to the carbon dioxide bubbles generated during the cheese aging process. The cheese skin is also airtight and air bubbles cannot escape, creating these small holes.
Goat cheese
These types of cheeses are made with 100% pure goat’s milk or mixed with goat’s milk (at least 50% goat’s milk). The texture of the cheese can be slightly liquid or dry, and the skin can be off-white, flowery or in its natural state.
Typical cheeses are le Crottin de Chavignol, le Chabichou du Poitou, le Rocamadour, le Sainte-Maure de Touraine).
Melted cheese
This type of cheese is typically made with compressed mature or unripened cheese, or by mixing melted cheese. It is generally used as an appetizer for cheese grains, or for spreading bread, etc. La Cancoillotte, and La Vache Qui Rit, often found in supermarkets, are melted cheeses.
Cheese is usually eaten with bread, dried fruit (such as walnuts), grapes, etc. It is also often paired with wine, depending on the taste of the cheese. Light cheeses are paired with light-bodied wines, and heavy-bodied cheeses are paired with full-bodied wines.
