A Look and Taste of Bucheron Cheese
2010
There is an old saying that goes “age doesn’t matter, unless you’re a cheese”. Besides its funny connotation, there is also a slight truth in it. . Actually, aging in cheese (or ripening) is the most important part of making cheese.
By letting the cheese to rest in carefully controlled conditions, they are able to develop the look, the texture, the flavor and even the aroma properties that make them unique. With aging, the bloom blossoms on Camembert, the holes magically turns into Swiss, and the veins burst through Gorgonzola.
During ripening, microbes and enzymes develop inside that breaks down the proteins and milk fat into different complex amino acids. In the end, these processes enrich the texture of the cheese as well as intensify its flavor.
Usually, cheeses are aged between two weeks to two yeas, sometimes for several years more. Therefore, the longer the cheese is aged, the firmer, sharper and more distinctive its texture becomes.
Cheeses like the Stravecchio Parmigiano Reggiano for instance, are allowed to ripen for 24 to 36 months and thus its interesting nutty-fruity taste and its hard, gritty texture. The mildest cheeses such as ricotta, and cream and cottage, are eaten fresh right away and are not ripened at all.
However, some cheeses are ripened mid-range often termed as semi-aged cheese for about 5 to 10 weeks. And one of the best tasting semi-aged cheeses available in the market today is the Bucheron cheese.
Bucheron is made from pure goat’s milk, originally a native of Loire Valley in France. Widely available and absolutely tasty, the Bucheron makes a perfect ingredient for a salad or sandwich. It has a soft, creamy center that has almost the same texture as a typical chevre (goat cheese), but typical is the last word that would describe this particular cheese.
One unique feature of the Bucheron cheese is its packaging it is made in short logs and aged before it is cut into smaller rounds. Around its creamy center is a ring of a harder and tangier cheese that will tickle you taste buds with a unique sharpness and complexity, absent in typical chevre.
A very interesting characteristic of the Bucheron cheese is its structure it has a layer of gooey cheese around the large chalky core, and a thin bloomy layer of mold like that or brie cheese. This is because softly ripened cheeses are aged from the outside in, thus the interesting center of the Bucheron.
Thanks to the natural magic of mold, you get two cheeses in one block: a creamy, mushroomy center with a dry and clay-like and mildly tangy fresh goat milk cheese at the crust. It tastes perfectly with Bordeaux’s or any other dry. Pair it with Bordeaux’s or any dry whites and sink slowly into heaven.
Read more about Bucheron Cheese.
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