Blue d'Auvergne
Bleu d'Auvergne is an unpasteurised, cow's milk blue cheese from the Auvergne in Central France. It has an Ivory-coloured paste with blue-green veins going through it, and a natural rind which is light brown and should be slightly sticky. The cheese is sometimes dubbed the cow's milk version of Roquefort, though it is much smoother, creamier and more buttery in texture. It has a strong aroma and on the palate it is grassy, salty and a little spicy.
comté 18 months
This 18 month Comté comes from Marcel Petite, who is located in the hilly French Jura town of Haut Doubs. In 1996, Marcel Petite bought an old military fort called Fort Saint Antione to mature cheeses they get from different "fruitiere", where milk is collected from different farmers and made. At an altitude of 1100m, the fort is covered by a thick layer of soil that provides ideal conditions for slow maturing (affinage lent).
This 18 month Comte 'Reservation' is a summer milk cheese, making its paste yellow (winter Comte generally has a whiter paste) and silky and the rind light a light brown. On the palate it is fruity and lightly salted, with an aftertaste that has notes of passion fruit and warm butter. Comte is great to gratinate, on top of an onion soup or in a toastie as part of a mix.
Brillat-savarin
Brillat Savarin is a cow's milk, triple cream cheese, meaning cream is added to the milk during the cheese making process. the addition of cream makes a rich, opulent cheese, but also provides some gentle lactic and acidic notes on the palate. Brillat Savarin was created in 1890 in the Bugey region of Western France, and was re-named in the 1930's after the famous food critic and lawyer Jean Anthelme Brillat Savarin.
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Brillat-Savarin has a typical white, bloomy rind. The paste is buttery-white in colour and is dense and creamy in texture. It has a milky aroma and on the palate it is rich with a slight sourness and earthy undertones.
stravacco
Stravacco is a raw, cow's milk cheese from Bruna cows. The farm that our Stravacco comes from, Ponte Vecchio, is located in the middle of the Prosecco hills, the heart of the Veneto region. The Curto family founded the Consortium Diolabruna, which promotes cheeses made with the Bruna cow's milk. They produce their own grass and cereals to feed the animals. The farm is very modern, with robots feeding and milking the cattle throughout the day, whenever it pleases the cows!
Stravacco is a round cheese with a white rind that has a basket pattern imprint left from it's maturation period. The texture is a little porous, and there is a slight saltiness combined with lactic notes. The taste is sweet and buttery, with a strong aroma of yoghurt and underbrush. Best paired with Prosecco or Merlot.
Taleggio
Taleggio is a semi-soft, full cream cow's milk cheese with a washed rind, which is said to have been produced since the 10th century. It was born from the need to preserve milk that exceeded family consumption. In those times it was aged in caves and exchanged for goods or sold to other traders.
The wrinkly rind is an orange/pink colour, with visible markings of the basket in which it was matured. The taste is sweet and lemony in its core, with notes of humid cave and yeast on the nose. The rind is nice and salty.
crottin de chavignol
Crottin is a small cylindrical shaped cheese that weighs about 90g. The name Crottin comes from the small holes that were on the sides of the river Loire, where women would come and wash clothes. These holes were created by the excavation of clay in order to make moulds for the cheeses, as well as other ceramics items.
When a Crottin is fresh it is bright white, and as it matures it develops some blue and white mold. Over time the cheese loses moisture and becomes more slatey in texture. the flavour intensifies and nutty characteristics develop, on the palate it becomes fresh, bright and creamy.
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If you are looking for a goats cheese to cook with, this is a winner. It can be grated or sliced.