Welcome to the France 44 Cheesecutter! Every month, we will aim to explore a new area of cheese and provide our opinions and recommendations. We want to help you decide month by month which cheese is best to melt on your grilled cheese, which soft cheese is best to take with you on a picnic, and which stinky cheese pairs best with that bottle of bubbly in your fridge.
When I was a kid, I loved Brie. Anything that was creamy, gooey, and salty, I would eat by the spoonful. To young Kristin, Brie was a scientific miracle. How was it possible to have a cheese that was spreadable when it wasn’t hot? It never burned my mouth like mac and cheese or pizza did and was always reliablly butter-y. Adult Kristin, aka Cheesemonger Kristin, is now much more familiar with class of cheese called bloomy rind cheeses and has a lot more opinions.
So what is a bloomy rind cheese? Well to start, not all bloomy rind cheeses are Brie, BUT all Brie are bloomy rinds. Bloomy rinds are a style of cheese known for a soft, creamy paste and an edible white mold rind. Depending on the amount of butterfat in the cheese and whether cream is added during the cheesemaking process, it can also be categorized as either a double-cream or triple-creme cheese. While there are cheeses in this category that embody that salty, creamy, butter-y taste that I’ve adored since childhood, there’s also a wide world of bloomy rind cheeses to explore. These cheeses can be meat-y, funky, lactic, and everything in between.
So for this mother’s day, if you have someone in your life who would prefer a savory sort of decadence rather than a sweet, I encourage you to take a look at the bloomy rind section of our cheese case. There’s a lot there worth celebrating!
What to Consider:
- Texture: We’re talking soft cheeses this week, but there’s still a lot of room within that category for different textures. Are looking for something totally gooey to the point where you might want to eat it with a spoon or a little bit more on the fudgey side?
- Funk: Typically when we think of Brie, at least in America, we don’t think about funky cheeses. However, a traditional brie can often be described as vegetal and have a bit of forest floor funk. Would you like a cheese that leans more traditional or more buttery?
- Flavor: Cows milk cheese lean sweet and creamy, goat cheese can be tangy and lighter, and sheep milk cheese is typically rich and buttery.
- Feeling: What’s your end goal with this cheese? Are you looking for something that will have a good texture when it’s baked or are you looking to enjoy it on fresh bread or give as a gift?
Perfect for a Picnic: Cremant
If enjoying a soft cheese in the park or on the beach sounds like an ideal Spring afternoon, but dealing with a goopy cheese on a paper plate isn’t quite what you had in mind; then Cremont is the way to go. Cremont is a double-cream mixed milk cheese (cow and goat) out of Vermont Creamery. This cheese comes in an easy to carry clamshell packaging making it perfect for an on-the-go occasion.
Cult Classic: Brie Fermier & Brillat Savarin
Brie Fermier is the quintessential classic Brie. Salty and mushroom-y with notes of forest floor. Perfect for cheese enthusiasts looking for the closest cheese you can get to the Brie de Meaux found in France.
One the other end of the Brie spectrum, there is the always enjoyable Brillat Savarin. A triple-creme made in France, Brillat Savarin is like if you took really really good French butter and made really really really good French cheese. I’ve yet to meet one person who can resist the decadence of this cheese. Pair with Effie’s cocoa biscuits for the savory version of a fancy Oreo cookie
Meant for Mother's Day: L'Explorateur
Thinking of mother’s day, gifts like chocolates and cakes and cards often come to mind first. But what can you get for the savory foodie mother in your life? L’Explorateur is the perfect cheese for this situation! This cheese is an incredibly unctuous triple-creme with tasting notes of truffle. This is a truly special cheese made for decadent, celebratory situations.
Best for Baking: Camembert
Camembert is a truly iconic cheese from Normandy known for its vegetal, even mushroom-y, taste and smell. This makes it perfect for baking! Something about warming up this cheese, potentially with some equally lush accoutrement (i.e. honey, garlic, mushrooms) mellows out its funky flavor leaving behind a decadent complexity. While I would absolutely recommend enjoying this cheese at room temperature if you’re a fan of an earthy cheese, if you’re not, don’t be scared by its intense reputation and give it a try as the star of your next baked “brie” dish!
