Le Trèfle du Perche

Walk into any fromagerie in France during goat cheese season (April to November) and you will be faced with a tempting array of wrinkly rectangles, fresh drums, blue mold covered cylinders, two-toned cones, grey pyramids, white diamonds, discs wrapped in leaves, and a distinctive four-leaf clover, le Trèfle du Perche.

In the French cheese world, this one is fairly recent creation.
Back in 1999 a group of 7 artisan cheesemakers in the northern part of the Loire Valley and the southern part of Normandy established l’Association des Fromagers Caprins Perche et Loir (after numerous meetings involving copious amounts of local cheese and wine I like to think) and created a new goat cheese. Their goal was to come up with a fromage de chèvre that would be instantly recognizable and that would become associated with their region. During its inception, one of the members spotted an unusual, four-leaf clover shaped clay cheese mold in a local rural museum and the rest is history.

Beneath its thin rind of blue-gray ash and mold, the snowy white interior is rich, creamy and melt-in-your-mouth tender. Depending on its age, the flavors can range from fresh milk and hazelnuts, to peppery with a long finish.

Le Trèfle, which means "clover" in French, has been in production since 2005 and is currently made by a dozen farmers in 4 French departments; the Eure-et-Loir, the Loir-et-Cher, the Sarthe and the Orne. This little goat cheese is unpasteurized, with a minimum affinage* of 10 days and a maximum of about 1 month. In 2012 the l’Association des Fromagers Caprins Perche et Loir (AFCPL) applied for an AOC for their cheese. I'm wishing them the best of luck!

A few wine suggestions to pair with le Trèfle; a Sauvignon Blanc or Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley if you prefer white, or a Gamay from the Loire Valley if you prefer red.





*ageing





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Holiday Rentals In France

Our old house in Normandy, which is now a charming rental cottage. We highly recommend this place!


For the first 10 years that we lived here, whenever I was visiting the U.S. and met someone new, they would inevitably ask me where I lived. When I would reply that I lived in France, their response, every single time, would be, "so how long have you lived in Paris?"
I always found that pretty funny. It's like telling someone that you live in the U.S. and they respond by asking how long you've lived in New York City.

But I get it. Paris represents "France" to most foreigners.

However there is much, much more to l'Hexagone than Paris! And over the years we've been fortunate enough to live in a few regions and have enjoyed exploring a good chunk of this beautiful country on many of our vacations.

I know that once you've chosen where to go, picking where to stay can be daunting. The sheer number of holiday rentals out there is crazy, so I thought I would share a handful of places that we know and would recommend around France. We stayed in some as paying guests (and would happily return), a few are owned by friends and one house we lived in for 4 wonderful years.

If you have any more places to recommend, please share them in the comments!


This gorgeous home, with a large pool, is located close to the Mediterranean sea in Occitanie. The owners, who are close friends of ours, are renting it out this summer.



A perfect spot for a summer apéro is the terrace of Maison de la Fontaine, a vacation house located in the center of the market town of Nérac, in the south west. It is owned by my good friend, Mardi, of Eat. Live. Travel. Write.



Gîte de la Roche à Vent in the Loire Valley, located between Saumur and Angers. We spent a week in this spacious, comfortable house, which was a fantastic location for exploring the region. 


Another lovely rental, complete with a big swimming pool and a large garden, is located in a medieval town in the south of France.


Can you imagine sitting here with a glass of wine, enjoying this view? Gorgeous! And the owners are winemakers, so a visit to their vineyard and wine tasting is included in the price.



Another picturesque spot in Gascony is Kate Hill's home, Camont, where I learned to make cassoulet many years ago. It is exceptionally being rented out for the summer of 2017.



Logis la Cabane, located about 20 minutes from Cognac, is a beautiful property with 2 acres of gardens and a heated swimming pool. 



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Le Cabri de Touraine

This was all that remained of le Cabri de Touraine by the time I remembered to grab my camera and take a photo for la Fête du Fromage. I'm afraid that enthusiasm and hunger got the best of us that evening.

My fellow tasters were Katia, the brilliant and ebullient voice behind The France Project, her delightful husband, The Muffin Man, and my wonderful husband, who has been a patient and supportive participant in this cheese tasting project since the beginning.

So what did we think?
Well, there's cheese and then there's cheese, and this time the decision was unanimous...le Cabri de Touraine has to be one of the most perfect fromages de chèvre. Ever.
There were two other cheeses on the board that evening, but this was the one we couldn't get enough of.

Its flavor is both sweet and salty, slightly goaty and there's a mild amount of acidity on the finish. And the texture! It's like a pillow of soft, luxurious velvet. It's hard to put into words just how delicious it is, so please trust the four of us and give it a try.

Le Cabri is produced by a small cheesemaker in the Loire Valley, La Cloche d'Or, who have a herd of 80 goats and offer an array of unpasteurized cheeses, including Sainte-Maure de Touraine and Valençay.

A crisp white wine from the Loire Valley would be a perfect pairing.



While they were visiting Normandy, I was honored to be interviewed by Katia for the cheese episode of The France Project, which went live today. Go and have a listen!




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La Fête du Fromage - Le Curé Nantais

Those three words...affiné au Muscadet...made my heart skip a beat.

Whenever I see a French cheese label that includes the word "affiné," I know I'll love it. Affiné means that the cheese has been ripened, bathed, washed, rubbed or wrapped in spirits, wine, herbs, nuts, even the crushed grapes left after wine making, all of which creates an intoxicating depth of flavor.

Le Curé Nantais is a soft, chewy, unpasteurized cow's milk cheese produced in Pornic, in the western Loire. This particular variety has been repeatedly washed in the local white wine, Muscadet, for three weeks.

Its medium strong flavor is an intriguing mix of mild spices, mushrooms, creamy butter and salt. I thought it was sublime!

Enjoy with a glass of, you guessed it, Muscadet.


A few more examples of cheeses matured in wine, beer, etc.
le Cameau
Vieux-Boulogne
Trappe Echourgnac
Brin d'Amour Pin It

Photo du Jour - Fromagerie

A little gem in the center of Saumur, la Fromagerie du Puits Neuf.
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Our Trip to the Loire Valley

Our trip to the Loire in October (which now seems like a lifetime ago) was really amazing...and wonderful...and well, interesting...
We encountered a few minor hiccups along the way, but were determined not to let them ruin our trip.

To start things off, I spent most of the night before our departure curled up on the bathroom floor with what I think was food poisoning.  By the time I was able to crawl my sorry butt out of bed that Saturday morning, the mere thought of spending 8 hours in a car was so horrific we decided to postpone the trip by one day.  No big deal.  We had the entire week to enjoy our holiday and explore the Loire.   
Or so we thought....

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Peace and Quiet

 

Everyone needs a quiet place to curl up with a good book (or a laptop, iPad, etc).  This window seat in our gîte in the Loire was the perfect spot. Pin It

Loire Valley Allure

I never expected to be so taken with the Loire Valley.

Sure I was excited to explore a new region of France and had fairly high expectations after all the positive reviews and trip reports that I had read.
But WOW!  What a magical, beautiful place.  I am officially smitten. Pin It

La Fête du Fromage - Le Caillou Creusois

Though le Limousin is famous for its lush, rolling pastures and famous cattle, it is generally not recognized as a cheese producing region.

In fact, Caillou Cruesois is the first one I've ever encountered.


La Creuse, one of the départements in le Limousin region, is located halfway between Paris and Toulouse. Celebrated AOC cheeses are produced in every direction - to the north, the south, the east and the west - yet this area doesn't seem to offer many regional cheeses for sale to the general public.
Maybe one has to live in the area to experience what cheeses it has to offer?

Le Caillou Creusois is a hefty little unpasteurized cow's milk cheese that gives off an enticing, earthy, barnyard aroma. Yes, I consider a barnyard aroma enticing...when it comes to cheese.
The compressed pâte has a rich chalky texture that coats your taste buds with satisfying yeast and fresh milk flavors.


A refreshing white wine from the Loire would be a good match to this delicious cheese. Pin It

La Fête du Fromage - Gloriotte

Spring and early summer offer a bounty of seasonal fromages de chèvre to enjoy. Chèvres from almost every corner of France: the Pyrénées, the Auvergne, the Poitou-Charentes, the Aveyron and the Savoie.
Many of these delightful cheeses are only available for a short time, so as the saying goes, Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May.

Introducing glorious Gloriotte! A sensational petit chèvre from the Loire.


I expected a bold and piquant flavor to come from a cheese with such an intense, goaty aroma and rough, rustic appearance. Boy was I wrong.
Gloriotte is mellow, fruity and sweet and its texture is smooth and a bit chalky. Drizzled with a bit of acacia honey - WOW - absolute heaven!

The most frustrating thing about Gloriotte is that I have to go either to Paris or the Loire Valley to purchase another delicious morsel. Or I could say that it gives me an excuse to make another trip up north.
(Ok, if I have to...)

Some white wine from the Loire would be a perfect match for this cheese. Pin It

La Fête du Fromage - La Courounne Lochoise

The area surrounding the medieval city of Loches in the southern Loire valley is home to the farmers who make this little ash covered fromage de chèvre, La Couronne Lochiose.

Its name, la Couronne, meaning the crown, springs from its distinctive ring shape, and Lochoise means simply that it comes from the area around Loches.


This has to be one of the best unpasteurized goat cheeses that I've tasted thus far.

It has a mild "goatiness" and is somewhat salty and mildly acidic. There is a welcome whisper of a fresh, green grass flavor and its texture is ultra rich and creamy. It literally melts in your mouth.
Quite simply - fabulous!

Wines from the Loire pair best with La Couronne Lochoise. Try a white Sancerre or a reds such as Anjou or Bourgueil. Pin It

La Fête du Fromage - Fraîcheur Figue

This was another of my (rather embarrassing large number of) cheese purchases that I made while visiting Paris last month.

Fraîcheur Figue is a creamy little chèvre frais wrapped around a dollop of fig jam.
Simple. Sweet. Unpretentious.


My Parisian hosts and I tasted the Fraîcheur Figue one evening as part of a cheese platter and ate the remainder the next morning with breakfast.
We all agreed that its fresh, light flavor was best when smashed onto some toasted bread and enjoyed with coffee. Must have been the jam stuffed inside...
I would happily eat it for breakfast in place of my usual plain yogurt any day.

This is a delightful goat cheese! Its tangy sweetness would be superb with some walnut bread or other earthy, rustic breads and a glass of crisp white wine from the Loire. Probably not for breakfast though!


Fraîcheur Figue is available at Chez Virginie.


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La Fête du Fromage - From North and South

We tasted two cheeses this week. One that was produced up north in the enchanting Loire Valley and the other from the stunning and aromatic Mediterranean scrublands.

Voilà, Sainte-Maure de Touraine and la Maquisarde.



I've been waiting ages to try one of France's best loved goat cheeses from the Loire Valley, Sainte-Maure de Touraine. It is easily recognizable by its long, cylindrical shape and the piece of straw piercing its center. Historically, the straw was placed there to protect the young cheese from falling to pieces during handling.

Sainte-Maure is a striking cheese - a snowy, white interior surrounded by a wrinkled, grey-black crust. It has a lovely, walnut aroma and mild and nutty flavor that is perfectly balanced. The texture is dense and creamy. This is a (dare I say it?) very seductive cheese.

The production of Sainte-Maure de Touraine can be either fermier, coopérative or artisinal. It was awarded AOC status in 1990 and is available to enjoy any time of the year.
White wines such as Vouvray, Sancerre or Chablis or a red from the Loire such as Chinon are perfect matches for this cheese.





The scrub lands of the region where we live, called la garrigue, are heavily perfumed with wild thyme, juniper, lavender and rosemary. The cheese from this region has subtle hints of these wonderful aromas, creating a unique tasting experience.

I bought a piece of unpasteurized cow's milk cheese called la Maquisarde at the Olonzac market last Tuesday. It is produced at a small farm near Minerve, the Coopérative Cravirola, who also made the incredible Tomme de Maquis that we tasted a couple of weeks ago.

The flavor seemed young and underdeveloped with too much tanginess, and it had a heady, barnyard aroma that was rather unpleasant. Usually, smelly cheeses don't bother me but this time it did. Compared to the Tomme de Maquis, la Maquisarde was a disappointment. I definitely expected to enjoy this cheese more.
Oh well... They also make a Camembert that I want to try.
We had a glass of local, Minervois red with this cheese.


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La Fête du Fromage - Valençay and Cantal Entre-Deux

I need to make a list.

While standing at the fromagerie counter last week and surveying the vast array of cheeses on offer I spent an astonishing amount of time thinking to myself, "have I tasted that one? I don't remember...how about that one?
Damn, I need to make a list!"
The poor woman behind the counter.

After much consideration (and reflection on the fact that I must have short term memory loss) two very different looking and tasting cheeses were chosen for this week's Fête du Fromage.

Cantal entre-deux and Valençay

Cantal entre-deux is one of the five AOC granted cheeses that come from the mountainous Auvergne region of central France. The "entre-deux" means "between" as there are three ages of Cantal; young, entre-deux and vieux. Young, mild Cantal is aged for 1-2 months, entre-deux is aged for 3-6 months and the strongest tasting, vieux more than 6 months. Cantal is considered one of the oldest cheeses, having been mentioned by Pliny the Elder around 2000 years ago. It is made from unpasteurized cow's milk and has a sweet, fruity flavor and creamy, smooth texture. It is extremely enjoyable, not too strong, but not too mild either.
Fruity, red wines such as Gaillac are a good match.

Valençay is another fetching little pyramid shaped cheese with a salted, ash covered, bumpy rind. Made in the Loire Valley from raw goat's milk, it was granted AOC status quite recently, in 1998. Its flavor was tangy, mild and nutty with subtle hints of citrus and the texture was supple and smooth. All around delicious!
Drink a white Valençay or Sancerre or a light red wine with this one.


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La Fête du Fromage - Chaumes, Tomme Noir des Pyrénées and Crottin de Chavignol

The cheeses chosen for this week's tasting were Chaumes, Tomme Noir des Pyrénées and Crottin de Chavignol.

Chaumes is made from pasteurized cow's milk, has an attractive, tangerine colored rind and a springy textured, ivory interior. It is a popular table cheese in France and is produced in the Dordogne region. The flavor is pleasantly nutty and soft, but the odor is quite pungent! Chaumes is a great cheese for grilling.

Tomme Noir des Pyrénées has been produced in the French Pyrénées mountains since the 12th Century. It wrapped in black wax (hence the "noir") and the interior is creamy white with little holes. It is made from unpasteurized cow's milk and offers mild buttery and slightly salty flavors. It is a friendly, easy to eat cheese, but not that interesting.

Named for goat or horse dung, yes dung, Crottin de Chavignol, was named such because its little, squat, drum shape resembled just that. And the name stuck. Bizarre, non ?
It has been produced since the 16th century in the tiny village of Chavignol in the Loire Valley. Crottin de Chavignol is made from goat's milk and was granted AOC status in 1976. It can be eaten young when the flavor is nutty and the texture soft, or aged when it shrinks in size, becomes stronger and the rind becomes moldy and brown colored. Now you understand where it gets it's name!
Delightful when paired with a glass of white Sancerre or fruity Beaujolais.

Bonne Fête du Fromage!


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