Cancoillotte or Cancoyotte is made from cow’s milk in Franche-Comté. It is also produced in Lorraine and Luxembourg and known as Kachkéis i.e. cook-cheese. The name is related with word “coille” taken from franc-comtois verb cailler, means milk without cream, resulting in a lower fat cheese. Cancoillotte is usually melted over a small flame with water or milk before addition of salt or butter. This cheese is sold in containers and there are various flavours: plain, with butter, garlic or wine. Cancoillotte can be eaten hot or cold, and it is a delicious spread on bread, vegetables or meat.
ingrédients: Curdled skimmed milk, butter (14%), garlic (1.3%), salt, preservatives (E221, E228) // lait écrémé caillé, eau, beurre (14%), ail (1.3%), sel, sels de fonte, conservateurs (E221, E228)
Bleu des Causses is a French blue cheese made from milk of Montbeliarde and Aubrac breeds of cow. A close cousin to Roquefort, it is produced in the Languedoc region of southern France and was granted AOC name protection in 1979. Traditionally, the cheese was made from a mixture of sheep’s milk mixed either with cow’s or goat’s milk. But according to French cheese laws, the cheese came to be made exclusively from cow’s milk. Bleu des Causses has a high-fat content of 45% and is matured for at least seventy days. However, the cheese can also be matured for up to six months in Gorges du Tarn’s natural limestone caves to develop a full and fine flavour. The cheese is similar to Blue d’Auvergne in many ways, despite Bleu des Causses having a noticeably firmer, creamier texture and spicy flavours. Bleu des Causses produced in winter and summer slightly differ in texture and flavour. Cheeses made in winter are light in colour than their summer equals. The winter produce also tends to be slightly drier. A taste of the Bleu des Causses will proffer a blend of rich milkiness amidst the peppery and spicy notes of the blue mould. The summer produce brings out their unique grassy and clover flavours.
Valençay cheese is one of the classic French cheeses made in the province of Berry in central France. It is named after the town of Valençay in the Indre department, France.
This cheese comes in two types: the one coated with wood ash and produced on farms is called Valençay Fermier while the other coated with vegetable ash and made in dairies or industries is called Valençay Laitier.
Valençay is an unpasteurised goats-milk cheese. Its rind has a rustic blue-grey colour which is made of the natural moulds. The rind is then darkened by dusting charcoal powder. It is available usually between March and December, with peak manufacture between April and August.
Valençay cheese used to have a shape of a perfect pyramid with a pointed top. But when Napoleon returned to the castle of Valencay after his unsuccessful expedition in Egypt, he saw the cheese, in a fit of rage drew his sword and cut off the top of the cheese. Since then the cheese has always been made with a flattened top.
To be called “Blue Stilton” the cheese must be made from local pasteurized milk in Derbyshire, Leicestershire or Nottinghamshire counties. Currently only six dairies are licensed to produce Stilton Cheese. Blue Stilton must be unpressed, allowed to form its own crust, and produced in the traditional cylindrical shape, with blue veins extending from the center and “have a taste profile typical of Stilton”. Blue Stilton is aged for a minimum of nine weeks which creates a semi-soft creamy cheese that gets crumblier as it ages. Blue Stilton gets its distinct blue veins from “penicillium roqueforti” (blue mold spores) created by introducing air into the core of the cheese with stainless steel needles. Blue Stilton provides a milder flavor than both Gorgonzola and Roquefort, and is ideal in soups, salads and dips, dressings and sauces. Sweet wines pair particularly well with Stilton such as Port or a sweet sherry. Blue Stilton is paired with Double Gloucester to make the visually stunning Hunstman cheese. This two British cheeses are layered together to create the ideal flavor combination, perfect in soups or chili or when eaten as a dessert cheese. Blue Stilton, in wheel or crock format, is a very popular Christmas Gift in the UK and the US.
Mont d’Or has been called the holy grail of French raw milk cheeses. This cheese typical of Haut Doubs can be easily recognized in its spruce wood container. It is held in place by a spruce bark strap. Mont d’Or is a soft-ripened cheese made of raw cow’s milk. A spoon is used to serve this cheese because it has a very creamy texture.This cheese has the distinctive feature of being very seasonal. It is produced from August 15th to March 15th and can be sold from September 10th to May 10th. This production calendar originated with the limitations of the climate. The Montbéliarde breed of cattle produces a significant amount of milk during the warm season, but not as much in the winter. In the winter when the cows consume hay, they do not produce enough milk for the manufacture of such large cheeses as Comté. Also, in the past, snowy roads meant that gathering milk was almost impossible. The farmers of the region therefore learned to work on a smaller scale during the winter. They made the most of the cold period to create a new, unique soft-ripened cheese, Mont d’Or. This one is very rare and sourced from one of the best cheesemonger, Marcel petite, which sells to a limited number of partners.
