Le Fromage By Heather Opolony Category Manager, Cheese If your idea of French cheese is only brie, Camembert, Roquefort or ‘the stuff that looks like cheddar or Gouda,’ then you’ve been cheating customers and their taste buds! And you’ve been missing out on incremental sales in your fresh cheese department. The KeHE Fresh team has a whole world of cheese available to you. French cheeses come in a wide variety of shapes, textures and most importantly, flavors. Adding French cheese can add a new twist on old favorite dishes. Ever had a burger with Bleu d‘Auvergne? How about macaroni and Morbier? Or simply a nice smear of truffle-infused Brillat Savarin on a nice warm slice of crusty, toasty bread…ah, heaven! Every region of France has its own particular cheeses. Even back during the time of Charles de Gaulle, France had around 246 cheeses – today, the number is closer to 400! As we delve into French cheeses, they can be broken down in to four different styles: Soft, Semi-Soft, Hard, and Bleu. Le Fromage let’s talk stYle. First there’s SOFT cheese. There are literally hundreds of soft French cheeses; each region has its own specialties. Many of these - notably those with appellation contrôlée - are manufactured in small batches – they are very “artisanal.” The most popular and you’ll think you’ve gone to cheese heaven. Brillat Savarin is a cow’s milk, are Camembert and Brie. There are two types of Brie, Brie triple-crème brie-style cheese and just de Meaux and Brie de Melun, both are thinking about the truffle Brillat Savarin appellation contrôlée (AOC) cheeses in our line-up makes my mouth water. named after two nearby towns in the If you are attending our Holiday show, country some fifty miles south east of you must stop in to the Fresh Pavilion Paris. Brie comes as a thin round cheese and sample this heavenly delight. If you’re not attending our, well, you’re missing out. It’s just that good! Hailing from Normandy, Camembert is perhaps the most famous French cheese, and is known and imitated worldwide. A ripe Camembert should be just soft on the inside, but not too runny. A young Camembert will tend to be hard and dry, and rather tasteless; an overripe Camembert, going yellowish on the outside, will tend to smell quite strongly. Like brie, the crust of a Camembert is usually eaten. Beware of substitutes – there are tons of Camembert lookalikes, since any similar cheese that is not manufactured about 20 inches in diameter, with a soft in the appellation contrôlée area in white crust. This crust is eaten, not cut Normandy cannot call itself Camembert. off! Brie is a very mild creamy cheese These lookalikes tend to be sold young; that should appeal to anyone who does therefore they do not have the same wonderful, distinctive flavor as a true not enjoy strong tasting cheese. Brie has been called the “king of Camembert. To test a Camembert or cheese,” but have you tried Brillat a lookalike, open the box (not the Savarin? This is a type of Brie that I protective wrapping paper!) and press would call the “god of cheese!” It is gently. The cheese should be just soft, so creamy and flavorful, one taste but not spongy. Fresh Products 2013- 2014 Annual Catalog ~ 17