We live at the intersection of three goat cheese appellations: selles-sur-cher, valençay, and saint-maure-de-touraine. The boundaries overlap some around Saint-Aignan and all three styles are readily available here. Needless to say, there are a good number of goat cheese producers around us and some of them set up stands at our local markets. I found this one at the cheese vendor in Saint-Aignan this past Saturday.
This particular vendor has been at the St.-Aignan market for a while. Their name slips my mind at the moment, so I can't tell you anything specific about them, except to say that their cheese is good quality selles-sur-cher cheese. In addition to cheeses at the standard levels of aging (soft, medium, and dry) with a natural ash coating, they offer cheeses with a variety of flavored coatings. This one is chopped fines herbes and tomato; others include chopped shallots, spicy peppers, garlic, and more.
I never really liked goat cheese before I moved here. There's something about these cheeses that is different from those made in other regions. These are not sour or strong tasting. The softer cheeses (like the one in the photo) are quite spreadable. If you let them dry out enough, they can be grated.
And I never really liked goat cheese before I moved to Spain. Now I love it. I even had goat cheese ice cream the other night.
ReplyDeleteGoat cheese ice cream has been a recurring joke on Dr. Martin (PBS) ! Nobody in the village would even taste it so Mr. Large took the case back to his friend and said, "...you can keep this, I couldn't sell a one!"
DeleteDid you like it, Mitchell?
That was me above!
DeleteThat is one delicious looking cheese. None of the goat cheeses around here compare to yours.
ReplyDeleteDitto what Evelyn said! My favorite ever goat cheese was at my au pair family's country house in the Bourgogne... and they poured crème fraiche on it, to boot!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful looking goat cheese. I love it too.
ReplyDeleteBettyAnn
mitch, also good is Basque country sheep's cheese. At least on the French side. Not sure I've tasted any from the Spain side.
ReplyDeleteevelyn, it's very tasty. We're still enjoying it.
judy, wow, that sounds a bit rich!
bettyann, :)