These cheeses are all made from cow's milk

The rind is washed during the aging process, which which prevents mould growing on the surface.

The water solution used in washing is enriched with specific bacteria to produce a tasty, colored rind and a specific odour for each cheese.

Examples:
Munster, Maroilles, Livarot, Pont-l'Evêque, Reblochon and Epoisses

What do you drink with this cheese?

A robust wine, such as a Côtes du Rhône, white wine of the same ragion or a Bordeaux red wine.

These cheeses are made from cow's milk. They are soft cheeses. They are familiar to us, often served in Anglo-Saxon countries as an appetizer. Of course in France, they are always served between the main course and the dessert.

The cheese is not cooked or pressed and it is aged for about a month.

It's a penecillin type mould that produces the soft velvety type of coating around the cheese.

Examples:

Brie, Camembert, Neufchatel Cheese and Chaource

What do you drink with this cheese?

Young wines, Bordeaux ou Beaujolais.

3. Cheeses that are cooked and pressed
Les fromages à pâte pressée cuite

The curd for these cheeses is heated to about 55°C for about an hour before the cheese is pressed and then placed in a mould and set aside to ripen. This is when their well known holes are formed! (though Comté has no holes).

The cheeses are usually formed in large "wheels" or cylinders and are matured in a warm cellar for 3 to 9 months, often longer. They are very calcium rich.

Most of this type of cheese is produced in the mountain areas of France. They are cooking cheeses, used for fondues and as toppings.

Examples:
Emmental, Gruyère, Comté, Beaufort, Emmental

What do you drink with this cheese?

Fruity white wines, or red wines with "character".

4. Pressed Cheeses
Fromages à pâte pressée

These cheeses are not cooked but are pressed, which drains some of the moisture out of the cheese.

After pressing the cheeses are left to mature, from between 15 days to a year, dependent on the variety of cheese. This means the texture of the cheese can be softish to hard - depending on the maturing process. They are kept in tightly controlled conditions.

While they mature, the cheeses are turned regularly, so that their rinds form evenly.

Cheeses made like this can vary in size from just a few kilos to 40 or 50 kilos!

Examples:
Cantal, St Nectaire, Salers, Reblochon, Ossau-Iraty, Morbier, raclette, Laguiole, tomme

What do you drink with this cheese?

Fruity white wines, like Savoie, a nice red Burgundy, or a young red wine.

5. Fresh Cheeses
Les fromages à pâte fraîche

These cheeses can be made from cow's, goat's or ewe's milk.

They are often sold in little pots.

They are different from the other cheeses as:

a. they contain a lot of water
b. they are not left to mature
c. the curd for the cheese is created by lactic
d. you don't get them on a cheese plate, they are eaten separately - often with a spoon.
e. they can be eaten as they are, or can be flavoured, a bit like yogurt
f. sometimes they are used in recipes.

You don't drink wine with this cheese!

6. Processed cheeses
Fromages à pâte fondue

These are cheeses blended with milk, cream, and butter, which can be either pasteurised or sterilised. You buy them in small portions and they are often flavoured with spices, garlic, herbs, pepper.

They can be kept quite a long time.

They are generally served as a snack - and are loved by children.

"Boursin" (right) is a cheese loved by adults. The slogan "Du pain. du vin et du Boursin" made this cheese very popular for its maker.

Examples:

"Laughing Cow" is a children's favourite

These are Blue cheeses, and have veins of blue or green running through them. Most are made from cow's milk. However, Roquefort is made from ewe's milk and is often regarded as the "king of cheese".

The blue veins are created by piercing the cheese with long, fine needles containing "penicillium glaucum" which starts the culture of the blue mould inside the cheese.

These cheeses are left to mature for a long time. They are often highly flavoured and have a strong smell.

Examples:
Bleu de Bresse, Roquefort, Fourme d'Ambert, Bleu d'Auvergne

What do you drink with this cheese?
Full bodied Bordeaux, such as St Emilion or a sweet white like Sauternes.

This group of cheeses are not distinguished by their preparation method but by thier milk. There are so many types of goat's cheese - from "frais" to dry, creamy, soft, - that they are categorised on their own.

Sometimes the cheese is rolled in wood ashes (cendré) or in herbs and spices. The cheese comes in a huge variety of shapes, little boxes and containers.

"Pur chèvre" is made using only goat's milk. "Mi-chèvre" means the goat's milk has been mixed with cow's milk.

Goat's milk cheese is very healthy since it is very low in chloresterol.

Examples:
Selles-sur-Cher, Chabichou, Sainte Maure, Picodon, Pélardon, Crottin de Chavignol, Pouligny-Saint-Pierre

What do you drink with this cheese?

A red Saumur or a Chablis.

There are so many varieties of cheese in France due to the religious orders from the Middle Ages. In every region of France, there were monks, nuns, priests in the abbeys which produced cheese. For example, the cheese from Alsace whichis called "Munster" came from an abbey in Alsace. The German word for "Monastery" is "munster" and the monks gave this bame to both the cheese and the town!

Round cheeses.

Brie and Camembert often come in these typical triangle shapes.

Whatever you do with these DON"T cut off the "nose"! This is considered very rude!

If you are the first to cut this cheese, take off a small bit of the "nose", then cut in slices, as shown. It's a bit like slicing a cake!

Brie and Camembert come like this quite often.

Cheeses like Gruyère, Emmental and Comté are easy.

Just take a slice cutting through from the rind down to the bottom.

La raclette

Un plat régional, du fromage grillé, que l'on mange avec des pommes de terre et du saucisson

A regional dish, of toasted cheese which is eaten with potatoes and spicy sausages.

Le Münster

Un fromage qui pue (ou est très odorant!) mais le goüt est meilleur que l'odeur!)

An extremely smelly cheese (that tastes better than it smells!)

La fondue

Du fromage Gruyère, cuit avec du vin blanc, dans lequel on trempe un croûton au bout d'une fourchette.

Gruyere cheese cooked with white wine, into which you dunk a little piece of bread on the end of a fork. (Don't drop the bread in the fondue, or you'll have to pay a forfeit, such as offer the host a bottle of wine!)

Chèvre chaud

Une entrée, avec du chèvre grillé, servi avec un canapé, du mâche, des tomates et des noix.

A starter, warm grilled goat's cheese, served on a canapé with a little green salad, tomatoes and walnuts.