Fresh Cheeses Create a Perfect Spring Tasting Platter
The best time to enjoy the selections on this Fromage Plate is springtime, when hints of meadow flowers and grasses pervade the flavors and aromas of freshly made cheese.
Paired here with Sancerre wines
Max’s recommended tasting order: Crottin frais, Picandine, Pointe de Bique, Coulommiers, Tomme de Savoie.
The Cheeses
“From late April to early May, we begin to think of the fresh, young goat’s milk cheeses.”
Max McCalman, Maître Fromager
Picandine. A petite, fresh goat’s milk cheese with a faint aroma and light lemony flavor, Picandine is produced by a dairy in the Dordogne region of southwest France. It is white and rindless, the shape of a small hockey puck, with a smooth, soft texture similar to that of natural cream cheese.
If you can’t find it, ask for: Cabécou.
“Tangy, refreshing...makes the tongue happy!” Max McCalman, Maître Fromager
Crottin frais. A young goat’s milk cheese from the Périgord region of east of Bordeaux. This natural rind cheese has a soft and creamy texture and a mild nutty flavor.
If you can’t find it, ask for: Chabichou du Poitou, Boucantrin, Rove des Garrigues, Crottin Champignou.
Pointe de Bique. Nicknamed the Eiffel Tower, this classic Loire Valley chèvre is made in a distinctive four-sided conical shape. It has a pure white, moist and semi-soft pâte with a well-balanced, full flavor that offers complex sweet, sour and salty notes.
If you can’t find it, ask for: Sainte-Maure, Pyramid Goat, fresh or aged goat cheese.
Coulommiers. This small, thick Brie-style cheese has a small, fresh center, or heart, surrounded by a pâte of pale yellow, with a sweet and melting taste. It has a white mold rind, at times with a touch of red.
If you can’t find it, ask for: Brie, Camembert.
Tomme de Savoie. Many variations of this cow’s milk cheese are produced in the mountainous Haute-Savoie region on the Swiss border. They are generally firm with small holes. They have mild nutty flavors and come in flattened cylinders with crusty natural rinds.
If you can’t find it, ask for: Tomme from other regions like Pyrénées, or Camembert for the mushroom earthiness, or Saint-Nectaire.
“This is an American favorite: rustic looking, fairly mild with a milky, buttery taste.”
Max McCalman, Maître Fromager
All soft-ripened cheeses used in our Signature Fromage Plates are made from pasteurized milk, and therefore comply with FDA regulations.