Today's Cheese

The minute I started to unwrap this one, I was in heaven! SO lusciously smelly, oozing and sticky. We haven't tasted it yet, but I expect wonderful things.

Oh, and for those of you who are curious, it's an ewe's milk, washed rind cheese from Corsica. I can't wait to try it!


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La Fête du Fromage - A Filetta

All of the Corsican cheeses I've tasted have been real characters. 
Brocciu was soft and seductive, smelly U Bel Fiuritu almost ran us out of the kitchen and I fell head over heels for herby, prickly Brin d'Amour.
 
A Filetta is another Corsican cheese with personality to spare.

I love the way its edible, slightly crunchy, salty rind embraces a soft and supple pâte that tastes of earth, mushrooms and herbs.  Though decorated with a fern leaf (a Filetta means "the fern" in the Corsican language), I didn't detect any fern or leaf-like flavor.  It is a dense, meaty, substantial cheese, but the flavor isn't as strong as I thought it would be.  This was a young cheese so the flavor was very mild.
I've heard of much older, much stronger versions!

A Filetta is an artisanal, unpasteurized fromage de brebis produced in the town of Isolaccio in northern Corsica.  Affinage takes 4-6 weeks and there is also a goat's milk version produced from January until late July. 

A glass of Minervois red paired nicely with the earthy quality of this cheese.  A glass of Muscat sec would also be good.

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La Fête du Fromage - Brin d'Amour

Looking to fall in love?
It may look a little sharp and spiky on the outside, but its velvety, savory inside will seduce you.*

This prickly little porcupine of a cheese is Brin d'Amour.

Brin d'Amour - "a little bit of love" is produced by artisan cheesemakers on the island of Corsica. It is an unpasteurized ewe's milk cheese that is wrapped in a blanket of aromatic local herbs from the maquis, the distinctive Mediterranean shrubland of Corsica, and matured for 2 weeks to 2 months. This cheese also goes by the name Fleur de Maquis.

As you can probably guess, the herbs -rosemary, thyme, savory, and juniper- infuse the cheese with their assertive flavors. There are also subtle hints of green olives, hazelnuts and tangy citrus, making this a very unique cheese.
The texture is firm, yet creamy and smooth, and melts in your mouth. The aroma is dominated by the heady herbs, especially the rosemary.

Enjoy with a Côtes de Provence rosé or a white wine from Corsica.


*We cut the herb covered rind off because the texture was too sharp, but a less matured cheese should have a softer coating.


Larousse translation of brin.


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La Fête du Fromage - Brocciu

Many years ago in Seattle, in the paleolithic era before Trader Joe's and Whole Foods and the availability of many cheeses from around the world, I made a gorgeous, fluffy, lemon zest infused Corsican cheesecake called Fiadone.
The recipe had been adapted to ingredients available in America, thus whole milk ricotta cheese was listed. Oddly, there wasn't a single reference in the recipe to the traditional Corsican cheese used to make fiadone: Brocciu.

A trip to Thriftway on upper Queen Anne Avenue yielded some decent Italian ricotta so I set about my baking, thinking to myself that this cake was basically an Italian ricotta cheesecake.
Such naiveté.

This week's Fête du Fromage has proven to me that there is indeed a difference between ricotta and Brocciu.
The next time I make fiadone - with the authentic, creamy cheese that was meant as the main ingredient - it will be taken to another dimension!



The sunny Mediterranean island of Corsica is home to the small farms and producers of this unique, soft AOC cheese.

The process of making Brocciu is vastly different from that of other AOC cheeses.
Normally the lactosérum, or whey, a nutritional by-product of cheese making, is discarded. To make Brocciu, the whey is kept, heated and salted, then mixed with whole ewe's or goat's milk and heated again. The result is a lactose free, fresh, pale ivory cheese.

It is best eaten within a couple of days of production, however there is a version called Brocciu Passe that has been drained and aged for a few weeks.


a spoonful served with homemade sour cherry compote


Brocciu is mild and sweet and has a pleasant, milky aroma. The soft texture, somewhat like thick yogurt, makes for a delicious breakfast, especially when served with fresh fruit or honey. It is also a wonderful addition to many recipes such as omelets, tarts and cannelloni. And there's always that famous fiadone, which I'll be making again very soon.

Wines such as Corsican whites or fruity Beaujolais pair nicely with Brocciu. Pin It