French cheese facts - The Tesco Eat Happy Project

French cheese facts
LESSON activity pLaNS
Age group: 5 - 7
tesco.com/eathappyproject
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• Camembert is a soft, creamy cow’s milk cheese that
was first made in Camembert in Normandy, France.
Camembert
• It was originally made with unpasteurised milk and
the only version certified by the French government,
‘Camembert de Normandie’ is still required to be
made in this way.
• Camembert is made in a similar way to Brie, but is
ripened as a small round cheese and fully covered by
the rind (unlike Brie which is more often sliced). It
also has a slightly stronger taste than Brie.
• Roquefort is a sheep’s milk cheese from the
Roquefort
south of France and is one of the world’s best
known blue cheeses.
• It has a protected name (PDO) and only the
cheeses aged in the caves of Roquefort-surSoulzon may use it.
• ‘Roquefort Societe’ is the largest
producer and Roquefort Papillon is a
well-known brand.
• Port Salut is a semi-soft cow’s milk cheese from France.
• It has a distinctive orange rind, which is edible, but may
Port Salut
detract from the flavour.
• The cheese was developed by monks who fled from
France in the French Revolution in the late 1800s. When
they returned they used what they had learned in their
exile to produce what became known as Port Salut. The
monks formed a society called ‘Societe Anonyme des
Fermiers’ and the trademark S.A.F.R, is still printed on the
cheese wheels today.
• Brie is the best known French cheese (known as
‘The Queen of Cheese’) and it is named after the
region it cames from.
Brie
• Brie is a soft, cow’s milk cheese with a rind of white mould
which is usually eaten.
• The ‘curd’ (the part inside the rind) is made by adding
rennet to whole or semi-skimmed milk and heating. It is
then poured into circular moulds and left to age.
• A cheese culture is added which creates the rind.
Saint Agur
Bleu
D’Auvergne
• Saint Agur is a soft blue cheese made
from cow’s milk.
• It was developed in 1988 in the village of
Beauzac in the mountainous Auverge
region of France.
• Bleu D’Auvergne is a French soft blue cheese made from
cow’s milk.
• It has a strong taste, but is less salted than some similar
cheeses and has a creamy, moist texture.
• A needling process is used to allow a mould to enter the
curd and it is then aged in cool, wet cellars for four weeks
before distribution.
• The cheese has a protected origin certificate from the
French government.