Tomme Crayeuse
June 16, 2009
Country and region of origin: Savoie, France
Milk: Pasteurized Cow’s Milk···
Age: aged over 6 weeks
Rind: natural brushed rind
Creamery: Schmidhauser
Creamery website: Schmidhauser Website
Properties: Creamy, pale paste. When ripe this cheese is spreadable. Surprisingly rich for a single cream, especially one made with pasteurized milk.
Uses: This is such an extravagantly good table cheese it’s hard to imagine other uses for it. But it would melt beautifully. It would be fine with fruit or with crackers – or spread on baguette.
Wine Pairings: A big, spicy red would be nice. Perhaps a Syrah. I can also imagine having this with Champagne or Cava.
Production Notes: First created by Max Schmidhauser in 1995, this was intended as a tomme alternative to the Tommes de Savoie of its region. In this, of course, it is successful. It is richer, creamier and more luxurious than most Tommes de Savoie.
Nutrition Data
Testimonials:
Fromager D’Affinois
February 20, 2008
Country and region of origin: France
Milk: Pasteurized Cow’s Milk
Age: Ripened 2 weeks
Rind: Soft, bloomy rind.
Creamery: Fromagerie Guilloteau
Creamery website: www.fromagerdaffinois.com
Properties: Fromager D’affinois is a rich, surprisingly smooth and creamy double cream. It weighs a little over two pounds (2 kilograms) and is almost nine inches across and almost 2 inches tall. It isn’t Brie, actually, or Camembert. It is as spreadable as a triple cream such as Delice D’Bourgogne – nearly like room temperature butter at room temperature. It is still delicious even when slightly overripe (at which point it is fairly liquid at center).
Uses: This is pretty much a cracker cheese. Any application of heat to this cheese would result in a liquid.
Wine Pairings: This would be perfect with a sparkling wine such as Champagne, Cava or Spumante.
Production Notes: According to the Guilloteau website, the milk for Fromager D’Affinois is ultra-filtered before rennet coagulation. This results in the extreme smoothness of the cheese. This is a fairly new cheese.
Abondance
February 15, 2008
Country and region of origin: France – Groisy, Haute-Savoie département
Milk: Raw Cow’s Milk
Age: At least 90 days
Rind: Non-edible, natural, brushed.
Creamery: Fromagerie de la Tournette
Creamery website: http://www.fromagerie-la-tournette.fr/uk/index.htm
Properties: We think of this as a French Gruyere, as is Comte. Abondance is a thin, flat round of cheese with a concave heel. Its average diameter is from 15 to 18 inches and it is 3 to 4 inches thick and weighs from 15 to 25 pounds. This is a great melter!
Uses: Anywhere you’d use Gruyere – so: in Fondue, on French Onion Soup, in Sandwiches and with most fruit. According to Steven Jenkins it’s a fine substitute for Raclette.
Wine Pairings: All light and fruity reds and full-flavored whites
Production Notes:Pressed semi-cooked. Small eyes. Abondance has been made for more than 700 years.
Testimonials:
Max McCalman – Cheese: A Connoisseur’s Guide to the World’s Best:
It’s flavors are delightfully fruity and sweet, mildly sour, and reminiscent of wildflowers.
Steven Jenkins – Cheese Primer:
An extraordinary, name-controlled cheese… that deserves 10 points on a 10-point scale… firm, nutty, and sweet, with a floriously ripe, almost funky fruitiness – although more complex and butter [than Comte]. It is a great melting cheese often substituted for French or Swiss Raclette.
