CHEESE

Reblochon (AOC 1976)
Country	France, Savoie
Milk	Cow's
% Fat	45%
Unpasteurised
Semi Soft
Fresh, young and tender cheese from the mountains of Savoie. Nutty after taste with a velvety rind. Semi-soft and surface-ripened Reblochon originated from the Savoy Mountain region. Reblochon has a supple creamy texture. The cheese has a warm, yeasty aroma with the sweet flavor of freshly crushed walnuts. The name of the cheese means "to pinch a cow's udder again". This is because Reblochon is made with the thicker, richer milk from the second milking of Abundance and Tarine cows. Additionally, the cheeses were made while the milk was still warm. It is a well-proportioned cheese with a thin, orange-yellow to pink tight, velvety rind. Its fresh clear aroma comes from the mould and it has a moist, smooth and supple, fatty pate.

Brie de Meaux (AOC 1980)
Country	France, Île de france
Milk	Cow's
% Fat	45%
Unpasteurised
Soft-white cheese
The father of all soft-white or bloomy rind cheeses. Brie de Meaux was first recorded in AD 774when the gourmet and soldier Charlemagne tasted it in Brie and ordered 2 batches to be sent to him annually in Aix. It is smooth, voluptuous and not quite runny. It has a slight scent of mould, and is full of sweet as well smoky aromas, with a rich condensed flavour

Camembert Fermier (AOC 1983)
Country	France, Normandy
Milk	Cow's
% Fat	45%
Unpasteurised
Soft-White cheese
The rind is covered in white mould, with reddish stripes and stains. The pate is creamy yellow, supple and give slightly to finger pressure. It is a creamy and salty cheese with a yeasty finish. Camembert has been granted his AOC in 1983. Camembert started his life towards the end of the eighteenth century as a dry, yellow-brown cheese made for her family by Marie Harel, a farmer’s wife. This was around the time of the French Revolution, and the family gave shelter to a priest from the Brie region. Having often talked to their parishioners while they made their cheeses, he was able to repay the Harel’s kindness by imparting his knowledge. As a result, the cheese became softer and earthier, but it would be some years before it acquired the name by which we know it today.

Pont l’Eveque (AOC 1976)
Country	France, Normandy
Milk	Cow's
% Fat	45%
Unpasteurised
Semi-Soft cheese.
Pont l’Eveque is said to have originated in an abbey, though there appears to be no evidence to substantiate this. Despite being granted its AOC status in1976 to protect its history and good name, only around 2 or 3% of the cheese is farmhouse made; the majority comes from just 2 large producers. To comply with AOC regulations and achieve the authentic taste and texture, the cheese must be regularly washed, brushed and turned to encourage the special bacteria to grow on the rind. The milk used for Pont l’Eveque must come from the local  area and the curd must be kneaded before it is drained. The aroma of the cheese has been likened to damp washing, moldy cellars and farmyards, but the taste is deliciously savory and piquant, with just trace of sweetness and a robust tang on the finish.

Livarot (AOC 1975)
Country	France, Normandy
Milk	Cow's
% Fat	45%
Unpasteurised
Semi-Soft cheese
This smooth, supple textured cheese is washed to encourage the orange ferments to grow. These days the wash is a flavorless natural dye, annatto, which may be one of the reasons the cheese is less pungent than it used to be. Heavy in the mouth, it leaves a spicy taste on the finish. Livarot was named after a village in Normandy. It is jokingly called the “colonel” because of the stripes of sedge grass(today, more often orange plastic) that encircle the cheese. Originally made by the monks in the area, nowadays most Livarot is produced in factories, but the AOC (1975) regulations should help to maintain its ancestry.

Roquefort (A.o.c. 1925)
Country	Aveyron/ midi- pyrennees
Milk	ewes milk
Fat	52% unpasteurised
Legend has it that the cheese was discovered when a young shepherd, eating his lunch of bread and ewes' milk cheese, saw a beautiful girl in the distance. Abandoning his meal in a nearby cave, he ran to meet her. When he returned a few months later, the penicillium roqueforti mold had transformed his plain cheese into roquefort. The cheese is white, crumbly and slightly moist, with distinctive veins of blue mold. It has characteristic odor and flavor with a notable taste of butyric acid; the blue veins provide a sharp tang. The overall flavor sensation begins slightly mild, then waxing sweet, then smoky, and fading to a salty finish. It has no rind; the exterior is edible and slightly salty

Taleggio
Country	Lombardy – bergano-val-taleggio
Milk	whole cow’s milk
% Fat	45
The Rind is thin, of soft consistence and it’s colour is natural rose, with presence of characteristic grey and green light sage colour mould. The paste is uniformly compact, softer under the rind and at the end of seasonning, friable to its centre. The paste colour changes from white to plae yellow, with some small circles.  the nose it’s quite pungent, the taste is sweet, with light acidulous vein, aromatic, sometimes with truffle aftertaste

TÊTE DE MOINE
Country	Switzerland – Canton of Bern
Milk	cow’s milk
% Fat	45

Its name, which means "Monk's Head", is derived from its invention and initially production by the monks.

The cheese is eaten in an unusual way: it must be carefully scraped with a knife in order to develop its scented flavours.

The monks started to manufacture this cheese more than eight centuries ago. Writings from 1292 attest that the cheese of the abbots of Bellelay had acquired such a reputation that it was used to pay the royalties of the stockbreeders to the farms' owners, to regulate litigations, being offered as presents to the prince-bishops of Basel or even as currency. The cheese was named Tête de Moine two centuries ago by soldiers of French Revolution, who, having expelled the monks, discovered cheese coins stored at the bottom of the large cellars. They adopted the manner of scraping cheese to consume it with the tonsure of a monk.

EMMENTAL
Country	Switzerland, Bern
Milk	cow’s milk
% Fat	45

The cheese originally comes from the Emme valley in the canton of Bern. Unlike some other cheese varieties, the denomination "Emmental" was not protected ("Emmentaler Switzerland" is, though). Hence, Emmental of other origin, especially from France and Bavaria, is widely available. Even Finland is an exporter of Emmental cheese.
Emmental is a yellow, medium-hard cheese, with characteristic large holes. It has a piquant, but not really sharp taste. Three types of bacteria are used in the production of Emmental: Streptococcus thermophilis, Lactobacillus, and Propionibacter shermani. In the late stage of cheese production, P. shermani consumes the lactic acid excreted by the other bacteria, and releases carbon dioxide gas, which slowly forms the bubbles that make holes.