the cheese blog

Pont-l’Évêque, Cave Aged Gruyere, and Chèvre

Three cheeses were on the cheese plate for dinner tonight: Pont-l’Évêque, cage aged Gruyere, and homemade Chèvre coated in black and white pepper.

Pont-l’Évêque (center in the picture to the right) is an uncooked, unpressed cow’s-milk cheese from the Basse-Normandie region of France. The cheese is traditionally square in shape. It is a bit like brie, but with a more pungent aroma and tangy texture. The rind on this cheese is a beautiful mottle of orange, brown, gold, and white due the rind being washed in brine. According to Wikipedia, it is probably one of the oldest Norman cheeses produced and ranks along side Brie, Camembert, and Roquefort in popularity in France. Recommendation: Highly Recommend! What a gorgeous rind, you stinky cheese.

The cave aged Gruyere (right and upper left in the picture above) is a semi-hard, raw cow’s-milk cheese made in the Swiss Alps, where it is aged in caves along side Emmenthal for 14 months. The cheese doesn’t have a strong aroma, but has a wonderful nutty flavor with those great bits of crystallization through out the cheese. Recommendation: Recommended!

The third cheese on the plate tonight was more of my homemade Chèvre that I coated in black and white pepper. Three homemade chèvre down, one to go!