As the saying goes, “age doesn’t matter, unless you’re 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.
Cheese is placed in particularly controlled conditions, letting them develop the look, the texture, the flavor, and even the aroma properties that make them different from other cheeses. When ripened properly, the bloom blossoms on Camembert, the holes become the classic Swiss, and the veins transform into Gorgonzola.
Usually, cheeses are aged between two weeks to two yeas, sometimes for several years more. The longer the cheese is aged, the firmer, the sharper, and the more distinctive its texture becomes. However, there are some cheeses that are ripened halfway through – these cheeses are called semi-aged cheese – for only about 5 to 10 weeks only. And the Bucheron cheese is one of the great tasting semi-aged cheese in the market today.
Bucheron cheese is made from pure goat’s milk and is a native delicacy of Loire Valley in France. It is a very favorite ingredient for salads and sandwiches because of its rich taste and is widely available as well. Its soft, creamy center has almost the same texture of ordinary chevre (goat cheese), but Bucheron is far from ordinary.
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.
Buying the Bucheron cheese is like buying two different cheeses at once: a creamy, mushroomy center, and a dry, clay-like and tangy fresh goat milk at the crust. It goes perfectly with a Bordeaux’s or any other dry.
Get some Bucheron cheese today and sink slowly into heaven.
