Cheesy does it

Cheesy does it

A very important part of French life is choosing food… including cheese, not only the type of cheese, but also its ripeness.

  • The cheese should be firm when touched with the thumb and should keep its shape.
  • It should not be too pungent and neither should it be runny when cut.
  • It should have a fine, soft crust.
  • Depending on the season the French keep their cheese on the kitchen window sill – outside!
  • In hot weather conditions keep the cheese in the bottom of the fridge.
  • Close to Paris but a world away, Le Mont de St Siméon, the Holiday Property Bond’s Île de France home, is deep in the heart of champagne and brie country.

    We all know what to do with a bottle of bubbly(!), but buying, and keeping, a wheel of top-quality delicious fromage in tip-top condition is a trickier task.

  • A Brie cheese can be kept happily in the fridge for up to 10 days.
  • It can also be kept very happily in a freezer and removed the evening prior to consumption.

We tend to think of eating foods during their “best” season. Did you know the French (being the French) have a “cheese season”?

Cows are indoors over winter and grazing the fresh grass from springtime onwards. As it takes 10 to 12 weeks to produce a brie cheese (and 25 litres of milk for one big Brie de Meaux), this brings us to the end of August – the best possible time to buy brie.

I am sure if you were served a seasonal cheese and a cheese produced during the winter months you would taste the difference immediately.

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