La Fête du Fromage - Five Cheeses to Try in France

Last week I wrote about five fabulous French cheeses that can be found in cheese shops or online in the States. I hope it helped to inspire some of you to try something new!

Unfortunately, many French cheeses aren't available overseas as they are either unpasteurized (and that is viewed as dangerous for some reason) or simply aren't exported by their producers. So in honor of this week's La Fête du Fromage I have put together a short list of luscious French cheeses to taste the next time you come to France.

I just know that these will entice you to get those plane tickets purchased!

When you arrive in France and find yourself in front of a large display of all sorts of strange looking, wonderfully smelly cheese at the Fromagerie, you can be confident that you are familiar with at least a few of the names and impress the person behind the counter when you ask for these five.
Believe me, you won't be disappointed.

1) Brugère - pronounced brew-jhere
A wonderful silky, slightly chalky textured fromage de chèvre that is a delight!


2) Tome Basque
A refined, sophisticated cheese with buttery and hazelnut flavors. It is super smooth and melts in your mouth. I love this one!


3) Camembert Brebis Fermier
A very special ewe's milk cheese from the Languedoc-Roussillon, made in the style of Camembert.


4) Cendré de Champagne
A luscious, creamy cheese with a slight smoky flavor from its ash covered rind. Truly sublime!


5) Chèvre Frais
In four stages of affinage. If you have the chance, try them all to find your favorite. Be sure to have some honey or fig jam to serve alongside.

Pin It

La Fête du Fromage - Brugère

The most delicious cheese that my sister and I tasted during our visit to Paris was Brugère, a wonderful, delicate, unpasteurized chèvre from the mountainous Cantal region of south central France.


Coincidentally, our apartment in Montmartre was located just around the corner from not just one, but two Fromageries.
One of them was a disappointment. La petite vendeuse was totally clueless about cheese! When I posed some questions about a couple that I was interested in, she didn't know where they were produced or if they were lait cru, lait thermisé or lait pasteurisé, nor did she care to.
I didn't linger around to waste her precious time.

Luckily la Fromagerie Lepic was only a few doors away and they were very knowledgeable. And happy that I was interested in their cheese. Had I been on my own, I could have spent many happy hours in this little place.
My sister does love cheese, but would much rather be noshing on some Spanish or French dry-cured ham or eating gelato, so I tried not to bore her by dragging her into too many Fromageries.


We both swooned over this one!
Brugère has a fine, silky texture and is matured to the point of being chewy and chalky, qualities that I love in goat cheese. It has strong milk and fresh grass flavors and a sweet aroma of green pastures. My sister and I both agree that this is one to remember.

Its soft flavor would pair well with either a Pinot Gris or a Pinot Noir.


Fromagerie Lepic
20, rue Lepic
75018 PARIS Pin It