Les Fromages

So..Today I went to the new Whole Foods that just opened on Bowery and Houston..Bowery & Houston??? yes, such is life.
It is ridiculously big, and like everything in this city has an overwhelming selection of pretty much anything from the food world that one can imagine. It feels more like a mall than a store, but there were not too many people, and tons of free samples - which is always a score in my books.
What they do have is a full service fromagerie onsite, and a cool (as in temperature) room where they sell many fresh cheeses - it's an equivalent La Fromagerie in London...so I had to wonder in.
Cheese is my weakness, I just cant resist. Ever since I was in France having cheese and figs from farmers markets every day I am powerless before the grand fromage..
I know it's a bit grown up to be speaking about cheese, but it's so wonderful I just gotta. It's not like evaluating wine..I promise.
So I will begin with the cheese that I fell in love with in France 7 years ago now. It's a common one there, but you can find it anywhere really - although quality is really not the same unless you pay like $10 for small button - which I will not..

The cheese is called Saint-Marcellin. Here is what Wikepedia had to say about it:
Saint-Marcellin is a type of soft cheese with a runny interior and a strong flavour originating from the former Dauphiné region of France. It is generally small in size and has a mottled creamy-white exterior. It is about 50% fat and its level of runniness depends on its age. It is similar to Saint-Félicien cheese. Saint-Marcellin cheese is named after the city of Saint-Marcellin.

This is what I have to say about it: it rocks - but it's not for everyone. It's similar to brie, but has a much stronger flavour - mouldy, musky sort of flavour. It's delicious. In France it's sold on its own, in the US it usually comes in a ceramic dish, but I think the level of freshness is not the same. The middle is runny and beautiful, it goes really well with fresh figs - in my humble personal opinion.

While I was at the Wholefoods today, the really friendly woman who works in the cheese area gave me different samples. One cheese which I tried was really beautiful - thank god it was $18 for a small log. Otherwise I would probably buy it - and finish in one sitting..argh. It's called Chabichou du Poitou. It was actually somewhat similar to the taste of Saint-Marcellin, but it's a goat's milk cheese, which gives it a different sort of flavour. I favour goat and sheep milk cheeses...I don't have a real explanation as to why. It's also soft in the middle - and is amazing.
It comes from Loire valley region of France. I found this info on it from Teddington Cheese Wire (sorry it's a bit long, but interesting because it gives some history of the region etc):

The 'Saracens' were a people of Arab descent, who originally settled in the south of Spain but then gradually moved north into France. By the 8th century they had reached Poitiers in the Loire valley, but it was at this point that they were finally repelled. When they were expelled from France, they left behind not only goats, but also recipes for making cheese from their milk. The Loire valley became the starting point in the history of goats' milk cheese in France, and remains the most important area of production.

Villages on either side of the Loire river produce goats' milk cheeses of different sizes and shapes. These cheeses have delicately varied flavours and include five AOC's - a classification given to cheeses in the same way as wines. In the eastern part of the area there is the small drum-shaped Crottin de Chavignol; to the west the log-shaped Saint Maure de Tourraine; to the north of the central region the round-shaped Selles-sur-Cher; to the south the pyramid-shaped Valençay and to the south-west the cone-shaped Chabichou de Poitou. Poitou is the most important goat breading region in France. The Chabichou du Poitou takes its name from the local dialect word for 'goat' derived from the Arabic 'chebli'.

The cheese is emphatically goaty in flavour and aroma. The paste is firm and white and the rind is pale blue-grey in colour. There are many industrial versions of this cheese but ours is made using traditional farmhouse methods.

Each cheese is approximately 6cm high, is cone-shaped with a 4cm base and a 3cm top, weighs 100 to 150grammes and has a minimum fat content of 45%. Cheeses are available throughout the year and the best are made from spring to autumn. Chabichou can be eaten fresh or matured for four weeks in a cool and humid cellar, during which time the blue-grey rind develops.

Chabichou can be accompanied with Sancerre, Pouilly Fumé or the red wines of the Loire. The cheese is excellent both on the cheese-board and for cooking; it is fabulous when sliced and grilled.
The last cheese I found recently that was amazing was one whose name I can not pronounce. Nor can I find any real info on it. I found it at the local cheese shop on Bedford ave - it was not expensive, so I bought it on a whim - my sole purchase at that pretentious, overpriced..anyway. Thank you Bedford cheese shop for having this amazing cheese. Really.
The cheese is called Buure-Weichchäsli. I definitely can not pronouce the name - it comes from Switzerland, although I remember the label being in Italian. Perhaps I should get it again, and draw the label... It's a small crottin (button), with very soft runny middle, and amazing flavour. This is a cow's milk cheese - I think it's my favourite one up to date..

That's it for today kids.