A Beginner's Guide to French Cheeses

Descriptive Highlights of the Vast Variety of Cheeses From France

Jan 13, 2009 Norman Kolpas

Use these descriptions of fourteen different varieties of French cheese to begin an exploration of the 325 or more different cheeses made in that nation.

“How can anyone be expected to govern a nation with 325 cheeses?”

That question, posed by Charles de Gaulle, the famed French World War II general and later his nation’s Prime Minister, made two points in one simple sentence. First, it dramatized the incredible diversity of France and the related determination not to agree with each other among its many regional people. Second, it takes as a given the fact that France is a country filled with an amazing variety of cheeses.

Indeed, every town and region of France seems to have one or more of its own special cheeses. That makes dining in France can an experience at once delightful and bewildering.

With that in mind, use this alphabetical listing of well-known and widely available varieties, as a starting point for further exploration of French cheeses:

• Boursault. A triple-cream cow’s milk cheese from the north, soft, rich, and slightly salty.
• Boursin. A triple-cream cow’s milk cheese from Normandy and the Ile de France, rich and spreadable, often flavored with garlic and herbs.
• Brie. From the Ile de France, this acclaimed, creamy cow’s milk cheese is prepared in large, flat disks that ripen to a rich, tangy flavor and an oozing consistency within its white rind.
• Brillat-Savarin. A triple-cream cheese resembling a plump Brie or Camembert, named to honor Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, the 18th-19th-century gastronome who wrote The Physiology of Taste, famed for his observation generally condensed and translated into English as “you are what you eat.”
• Camembert. From Normandy, this is similar to Brie but somewhat milder and formed into smaller, thicker discs.
• Chèvre. The general term for French goat’s milk cheeses, which can range from mild, soft, creamy, and slightly tangy when young and fresh to firm, crumbly, and pungent when aged.
• Explorateur. A close cousin to Brie made with triple-rich cream and made in narrower, thicker discs.
• Fromage frais. Literally “fresh cheese,” this is a soft, mild curd cheese that may be enjoyed for breakfast or, lightly sweetened and garnished with fresh fruit, as a dessert.
• Munster. A robust-tasting cow’s milk cheese, usually formed into flat cylinders.
• Pont L’Evêque. A resilient-textured mild cow’s milk cheese with a distinctive yellow rind.
• Port Salut. A very milk, smooth-textured cow’s milk cheese, prepared in thick discs.
• Reblochon. A mild-tasting, soft cow’s milk cheese.
• Roquefort. France’s superb blue cheese, made from sheep’s milk formed into tall cylinders, with a creamy consistency and a distinctive rich, sharp, tangy flavor. Inspires so many devotees that there's even a Roquefort Society.
• Tomme. A pressed cheese made from sheep’s milk or goat’s milk.

Look for them in cheese shops and well-stocked supermarkets and delis. Then, continue exploring beyond the basics.

With these 14 familiar, according to de Gaulle that leaves just 311 more cheeses to go!

The copyright of the article A Beginner's Guide to French Cheeses in Gourmet Food is owned by Norman Kolpas. Permission to republish A Beginner's Guide to French Cheeses in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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