Soft Cheeses

Casinca de Corse

A wonderfully pungent washed rind goat’s cheese from the island of Corsica – this cheese was a recommendation of the waiter at Martin Wishart in Edinburgh. It has a more complex and salty tang to it than any other goat’s cheese I have tasted and is an excellent wine cheese. Definitely worth trying if you can get your hands on some.

Fromager d’Affinois

Poor old d’Affinois used to be our favourite brie like cheese until it was knocked off its perch by St Marcellin. Whilst it doesn’t get quite as oozy it is nevertheless a smooth and creamy brie type cow’s milk cheese that is well worth acquainting yourself with. Apparently the creaminess is due to the ultrafiltration process employed by the company which removes excess water from the pasteurized milk before processing. This means the cheese takes less time to make than a traditional brie. Cheating? Perhaps, but when the finished product tastes this good we don’t care!

Petit Langres

An orange washed rind cow’s milk cheese from the Champagne region in France. It is matured for 2-3 months in humid cellars and is regularly rinsed in brine and “rocou” – an orange pigment from the Annato tree. It has a strong smell and a soft and smooth interior. Very tasty!

St Marcellin

Discovered (by us at least) at Les Retrouvailles in Lyon this is the ultimate in stinky cheeses of the brie family in our opinion. It can be found at Harrods in London and in world class cheese shops in Australia and Europe, and of course throughout much of France. If you can get your hands on a ripe one get your spoon ready and prepare for an overdose of cheesy joy! If your St Marcellin is a little too firm when you buy it sit it in a warm spot for as long as it takes to start oozing.

Cremeux d’Argental

While eating at the lovely Lane in the Adelaide Hills the other day I checked what cheeses they were currently offering. Their good taste was evident in the fact that they had a d’Affinois on the list but I was also intrigued by a “triple cream” cheese called a Delice d’Argental. Triple cream apparently involves making the cheese as per a brie with full cream cow’s milk, and then adding some crème fraiche for good measure. The cheese is made in Burgundy.

We didn’t taste it on the day and so a trip to the Smelly Cheese Shop in the Adelaide market was called for. We couldn’t find the Delice so we bought a Cremeux d’Argental instead. This triple cream comes from Lyon instead of from Burgundy (near enough to be similar but we would have to do a “taste off” to be sure).

Our d’Argental oozed delightfully when we left it out on a warm summer’s day. By the time we came in from the pool we needed to serve it with a spoon. It was indeed delightfully creamy – milder than a St Marcellin but a fine cheese nonetheless.

Taleggio

It is time an Italian cheese was added to our Francophile list. The makers of Parmigiano know a thing or two about cheese and taleggio is another of our favourites. Made in the Val Taleggio since the tenth century this cow’s milk cheese is possibly one of the oldest soft cheeses. Like Roquefort it was traditionally matured in caves in the Val Taleggio and the cheeses were washed once a week with sea water to prevent mould and the formation of an orange crust. It takes about forty days to ripen. The flavour lies somewhere between a hard cheese and a brie – it is tasty yet delightfully smooth and creamy at the same time. It melts wonderfully and would probably be good on a wood oven pizza. We may have to try that sometime soon!