"Brie" news and stories

Bored with Brie? Not so fast, if you haven't tried Brie de Provins, a just-resuscitated, 13th-century version of the popular, gooey French cheese. The supple unctuous texture and light mushroom aroma of Brie de Provins, which is also the second farmstead Brie in France (the first one being Rothschild Brie), has us reevaluating the entire Brie category and falling in love with it all over again.

Earlier this month at France's biannual Salon de Fromage, cheesemakers announced the "rebirth" of this farmstead Brie made according to cheesemaking traditions that go back as far as the 13th century, including the use of raw milk, draining over wooden racks, molding by hand, and much more. Indeed, to wrap our taste buds around its distinctly floral bouquet, reminiscent of the region's shrubs, birch, and oak trees, we have to understand the long-established process that's involved in producing the cheese.

Do you find the idea of selecting cheese for a dinner party daunting? Here's a quick guide to arranging a cheese course.

Adelle. Photo: Murray's.

After spending months tasting mostly French cheeses, it's hard not to compare our diverse American cheeses to their European counterparts, especially Adelle from Ancient Heritage Dairy in Scio, Oregon. A taste of Adelle is like taking a bite of a phenomenally aged French goat's-milk cheese with an oozy texture and a flavor reminiscent of hazelnuts. What's remarkable about Adelle is that, despite this similarity, it's not a goat's-milk cheese.

In contrast to a French goat's-milk cheese like Pouligny Saint Pierre, Adelle's complex taste can be attributed to a combination of milks – that of East Friesian sheep and of Ayrshire Cows. While its rich taste and creamy consistency come from cow's milk, its meaty pungency and finish come from the addition of sheep's milk. Anne Saxelby, owner of Saxelby Cheesemongers, refers to mixed milk cheese as an "American innovation."

The reason for this American technique of mixing milk from different animals has to do with the seasonality of certain milks. For instance, sheep usually stop milking in October. "We could not afford to stop producing cheeses from October until the spring," says Kathy Obringer, co-owner of Ancient Heritage Dairy (with husband Paul). "So, one season, we used the cow's milk from a neighbor in exchange for cheese lessons, and we mixed it with our frozen sheep's milk."

Find out more about Adelle after the jump.

Saint-Nectaire. Photo: Artisanal Cheese

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

For those who enjoy the creamy supple texture of Brie and the nutty earthy taste of Salers, Saint-Nectaire is a must-try. Coming from the Auvergne, the same region of France as Salers, it combines the best of both cheeses, but the experience of eating it is like savoring a particularly rich smooth peanut butter and drinking a glass of rich, flavorful raw cow's milk.

This cow's-milk cheese is made from the milk of the renowned Salers cows that graze at an altitude of 3,000 feet. Similar to the cheese Salers, the rich soil consists of volcanic ash (hence, lots of minerals) and imparts a distinct flavor on Saint-Nectaire.

However, unlike Salers, Saint-Nectaire has an unctuous consistency, similar to Brie, and a one-of-a-kind exquisite light-brown-grayish rind with, at times, white, yellow and red molds. It can have either a washed rind or a natural rind. The different molds, intentionally brought out by the affineur, create the cheese's distinct rustic appearance and earthy floral taste. As far back as the Middle Ages, cheesemakers have been aging Saint-Nectaire on rye mats in tunnels and caves that run through the Auvergne.

Think you're the big cheese? Test your cheese knowledge with our Cheese Trivia Quiz on Slashfood.