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 - If You Can't Stand The Smell....

...you better stay away from our kitchen!

My trip to Marseille last week yielded a Corsican cheese to die for.
In a small fromagerie, le Normandy, I bought a piece of this pasteurized sheep's milk cheese called U Bel Fiuritu. When the fromager handed me the cheese I put my nose near the the little waxed paper package to take in its aroma, but the shop was so odoriferous, I didn't pick up anything unusual.
It wasn't until later, on the train home, that I noticed an aroma wafting up from my bag...this was one smelly cheese!



It had a washed rind that was quite sticky, yet edible, a soft texture and flavors that ranged from creamy to spicy. We both loved it's heady flavor that prickled on our tongues as it developed.
A glass of Minervois red paired nicely with this cheese.

I highly recommend U Bel Fiuritu and since it is a pasteurized cheese, it is hopefully readily available outside of France. Pin It