Fontainebleau - Le Cheese Course

Fontainebleau. Photo: Marie-Anne Cantin

This summer Slashfood blogger Max Shrem is apprenticing at renowned Paris cheese shop Fromagerie Trotté. For the next two months, in 'Le Cheese Course,' Max will share his impressions and opinions of French cheese à la francaise!

This odd-looking fromage is oh-so-French (and, in fact, available solely in that country). Those planning a trip there would be wise to look up the delicious Fontainebleau, which is here pictured with the net that covers it when it is sold.

France has many varieties of creamy cheese, from crème fraîche and fromage blanc to petit-suisse and Chantilly. Combining characteristics of all four mentioned above, Fontainebleau, which must be eaten the day it's put out for sale, is especially worth trying for a rich, sweet taste and fluffy, light texture that's similar to whipped cream.

It's so light, in fact, it requires strange packaging. "The reason for the cloth is to protect the very light structure and to maintain the freshness," says Thomas Le Goff, cheesemonger at fromagerie Marie-Anne Cantin.



Tasting Fontainebleau brings to mind many characteristics that it shares with the more well-known Chantilly cream (whipped cream), and was originally made "to compete with Chantilly," laughs Le Goff (who hails from Chantilly).

Like Chantilly, Fontainebleau is a whipped cream that's delicate, airy, and creamy. Both are named after châteaux. But while Chantilly was created in the kitchen of the château de Chantilly by celebrated 17th-century chef François Vatel, Fontainebleau is from a more recent and familiar time period during the early 20th century, long after the revolution. It's named after the château and city of Fontainebleau, located 35 miles southeast of Paris.

So what exactly distinguishes one from the other? Chantilly is made entirely from heavy cream, and thus has a higher fat content. Fontainebleau, on the other hand, "is produced from both fromage blanc and heavy cream," explains fromager and affineur Hugues Foucher from Fromagerie Foucher in Paris. "They're strained and whisked separately before being mixed together and whipped." The fat content in Fontainebleau is still considerably high -- 60 to 75 percent. Still, if one pays attention to such things when it comes to cheese, it's the lesser of two evils.

Fontainebleau, unlike Chantilly, is also never flavored with vanilla and sugar prior to purchase. The addition of both ingredients is up to the consumer. Marie-Anne Cantin owner and affineur of fromagerie Cantin, recommends eating Fontainebleau with fruits like strawberries, raspberries and the like.

Chris Munsey at New York City's Murray's Cheese describes this sort of cheese as a "pretty French thing," and that he'd be "surprised if you did see it here. A company in Vermont tried to popularize [something similar] recently ... it wasn't a big hit at all." Munsey says he'd "love to see a new trend or fad start up" stateside.

If you're traveling to France and looking to taste a cheese you absolutely cannot find back in the states, then this is a must-try. Even in Parisian cheese shops, Fontainebleau is hard to come by. You can find it at Barthélémy at 51, rue de Grenelle, and weekends at Marie-Anne Cantin.