Wednesday, October 24, 2012

#16 – Cremeurs (made by Vendee Chèvre)


Oval shaped cheese, with mixed rind (appears to be geotrichum and penicillium/blue mould).  Substantial ripening/ breakdown inside the rind leaving about half the cheese in unripened.  Rind is firm to bite but tender.  Texture is creamy, and there is a slightly spicy aftertaste with a hint of blue mould.    

Cremeurs, made by Vendee Chevre

#15 – Buche semi-affinage (made by Vendee Chèvre)


Small log with thin covering of white mould with mild wrinkling (looks like geotrichum).  Acidic curd is slightly drying when first tried, but it then becomes nice and creamy.  A little bit of ripening around the edges of the cheese but no real rind has developed yet.  Clean, fresh, zesty, light.  Can spread this onto your bread.    

Buche semi-affinage, by Vendee Chevre

First trip to France!

Finally we have got around to updating this blog.


In July we took our first trip to France, to visit Andrew’s godparents in the Vendée area of the Pays de Loire region.  We stayed in a small town near the coast and were able to take a few trips to some local markets.  At the biggest market we went to, in Challans, we purchased cheeses from a couple of local stalls.

Vendee Chèvre.  A small local prodcuer who was selling their cheeses direct at the market.  All were Fromage de chèvre au lait cru – raw goats milk cheeses.  The cheeses were just labelled with a simple description – buche, sec, affine etc.  There were about 6 types of cheese and a few fresh fromage frais type products available.  When Noël told the lady at the counter we were cheese makers from New Zealand, she gave us a few extra cheeses to take away!

Fromagerie Beillevaire – Maître Fromager.  A large cheese monger based in Machecoul (between Challans and Nantes), this large counter had many different types of cheese from around France.  They run tours of their cheese factory and maturing rooms but we did not have time to fit this in during the week.

What will follow is a flurry of new cheeses, raising our count from a measly 14!

Vendee Chevre stand at Challans market
Our daily lunch on holiday included all these cheeses.