Updated July 8, 2022 3.4K votes 571 voters 56.5K views
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Vote up the cheeses that make you exclaim 'magnifique.'
French cheese. A list of the best cheeses from France. With its countless textures, flavors, and recipes, cheese is one of the most diverse types of food in the world. Even its chief ingredient, milk, can come from a wide variety of animals, including cows, goats, sheep, and even buffalo. Unlike east Asia, where lactose intolerance is much more common, cheese is a staple of the western diet with such iconic dishes as grilled cheese, mac and cheese, and best of all... cream cheese frosting. Cheese and its saturated fat may contribute to heart disease; that said, it may actually strengthen tooth enamel with its protein, calcium and phosphorus. While this list may focus on cheeses from one particular country, they are probably sold world-wide and may even be down at your corner store.
Vote up your favorite cheeses from France and vote down any you don't really like.
Comté is a French cheese made from unpasteurized cow's milk in the Franche-Comté region of eastern France. Comté has the highest production of all French AOC cheeses, around 40,000 tonnes annually.
The cheese is made in flat circular discs, each between 40 cm and 70 cm in diameter, and around 10 cm in height. Each disc weighs up to 50 kg with an FDM around 45%. The rind is usually a dusty-brown colour, and the internal pâte is a pale creamy yellow. The texture is relatively hard and flexible, and the taste is strong and slightly sweet.
Brie is a soft cow's milk cheese named after Brie, the French region from which it originated. It is pale in color with a slight grayish tinge under a rind of white mold. The whitish moldy rind is typically eaten, its flavor depending largely upon the ingredients used and its manufacturing environment.
Morbier is a semi-soft cows' milk cheese of France named after the small village of Morbier in Franche-Comté. It is ivory colored, soft and slightly elastic, and is immediately recognizable by the thin black layer separating it horizontally in the middle. It has a rind that is yellowish, moist, and leathery.
Traditionally, the cheese consists of a layer of morning milk and a layer of evening milk. When making Comté, cheesemakers would end the day with leftover curd that was not enough for an entire cheese. Thus, they would press the remaining evening curd into a mold, and spread ash over it to protect it overnight. The following morning, the cheese would be topped up with morning milk. Nowadays, the cheese is usually made from a single milking with the traditional ash line replaced by vegetable dye.
The Jura and Doubs versions both benefit from an appellation d'origine contrôlée, though other non-AOC Morbier exist on the market.
The aroma of Morbier is strong, but the flavor is rich and creamy, with a slightly bitter aftertaste.
Reblochon and has been granted the AOC title. Reblochon was first produced in the Thônes and Arly valleys, in the Aravis massif. Thônes remains the centre of Reblochon production; the cheeses are still made in the local cooperatives. Until 1964 Reblochon was also produced in Italian areas of the Alps. Subsequently the Italian cheese has been sold in declining quantities under such names as Rebruchon and Reblò alpino.
