Come with us on our own Tour de France this Saturday. Our mini “Tour de Fromage” begins in the Alps, traverses through the area south of Lyon, and winds through Normandy. Taste the glory of France!

Every town in France seems to have a cheese. In fact, there are nearly 1,000 types of cheese made in France, and our Tour de Fromage this Saturday will touch upon three of them.

Read more about French cheese. Vive la France!

Tomme de Vache

Like all Tomme cheeses, Tomme de Vache is made from milk after the cream has been skimmed off to make butter and full-cream cheese. The result is a low-fat cheese, but don’t think Tommes lack flavor! Tomme de Vache is beautiful and buttery. It is similar to Secret de Compostelle, but slightly saltier. You’ll enjoy its creamy, pleasant, and flavorful aftertaste.

Tomme means smallish, roundish cheese, and they are all great crowd-pleasing table cheeses.Most Tommes are made in the French or Swiss Alps and add their precise place of origin after their name (Tomme de Savoie, for example). And Tomme de Vache tastes amazing with Le Bon Magot lemon sultana marmalade! Stop by the store to try this perfect pairing.

Origin: France (Alps)
Milk: Pasteurized cow
Rennet type: Animal
Rind: Natural
Age: 2-4 months
Look: Ivory pâté covered in an ivory/yellowish rind
Feel: Semi-soft, pliable. Crumbly.
Smell: Milky, buttery aroma
Taste: Complex, buttery
Pairs well with: Fruit (fresh or dried)
Tastes good with: Red wine

Fromager d’Affinois Truffles

For the ultimate in rich, luxurious cheese, you must try this elegant double crème with pieces of genuine black Périgord truffles scattered throughout. And these are actual truffle pieces, not the truffle oil found in some “truffle” cheeses.

What makes Fromager d’Affinois different from Brie and unique in the world of double crèmes is that it maintains a firm paste in the center as it ages. It is made using a process called “ultrafiltration,” which breaks down the fat molecules and removes water from the milk. By concentrating all the other components, it accelerates the cheesemaking process and provides the cheese with a luscious texture and higher amounts of protein and calcium. The result is a cheese that is thicker and creamier than Brie with a taste as rich as most triple-crèmes.

Our Fromager d’Affinois Truffles is super ripe and super delicious! It is perfectly balanced: not too much truffle and not too much Brie flavor. You’re going to love it!

Origin: France (Rhône-Alpes)
Producer: Fromagerie Guilloteau S.A
Milk: Pasteurized cow
Rennet type: Vegetarian
Rind: Bloomy
Age: 2 months
Look: The paste is butter yellow with flecks of shaved black truffle. And you must eat the rind: it is gorgeous and adds sweetness to the cheese.
Feel: Super soft, satiny texture. Think buttercream icing.
Smell: Earthy, truffly aroma
Taste: Mildly earthy, mushroomy, and garlicly with a buttery aftertaste. Delicate truffle flavor
Pairs well with: Crusty baguette, dried fruit, walnuts
Tastes good with: Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Viognier, Champagne

Tremblaye Camembert

I remember Camembert from my youth. It was bland and lacking in flavor. It wasn’t until I was much older I was given a piece of this fabulous cheese called Camembert – not the cheap imitation from my youth, which, in retrospect, I knew to be factory made. Instead, I was treated to the sublime taste of genuine Camembert, which was luscious and full of flavor.

Tremblaye Camembert is such a cheese. It is a true farmstead cheese, meaning it was created from whole milk produced on Fermer de Tremblaye, a small farm devoted to environmentally sound and humane practices to produce natural authentic gourmet cheese. Tremblaye Camembert has been an award winner every year since 2010.

Camembert is sometimes referred to with that “s word” we don’t like to use (stinky), but we find the aroma of this Camembert to be delightfully earthy and mushroomy. (One of our customers compares it to “the feet on angels.”) To mitigate against any strong odor, unwrap your Camembert and let it sit for an hour before consuming. The strong odor will dissipate and you’ll be rewarded with a decadently delicious and aromatic cheese.

Origin: France (outside the village of La Boissière-École, near Versailles)
Producer: La Fermer de la Tremblaye
Milk: Pasteurized cow
Rennet type: Animal
Rind: Bloomy
Age: At least 3 weeks
Look: Smooth, soft, white interior
Feel: Thick, pliant paste
Smell: Strong, earthy
Taste: Strong vegetal notes, with a soft, creamy, hazelnut finish
Pairs well with: Baguette
Tastes good with: French Champagne and red wines such as Bordeaux or Beaujolais

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