La meilleure epoque

Monday, March 21, 2011 in France, Paris | 1 comment

In France, many cheeses have a season. What the French call “la meilleure époque”—the best time to eat them. What determines the best time to eat a particular fresh cheese? It depends on two things: The pasturage of the animal that is providing the milk to make the cheese and the ideal amount of time necessary to age the cheese.

Take a nice artisanal goat cheese like Pourly. These goats graze on grass from the limestone plateaus of Bourgogne. The most abundant, flavorful grass is the new growth in the spring. And the cheese takes only two to four weeks to properly age. So the best time to eat Pourly is late sprig to early summer. And if you are a true French cheese-geek, that is when you would buy it from your local fromager.

But I do not know any of this yet because I have not met Marie-Anne Cantin who is going to tell me everything I don’t know about cheese before she allows me out of her shop with $60 worth of Epoisses. We shall meet her tomorrow.

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1 comment

  1. Karl’s avatar

    Karl on Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at 6:58 pm

    I buy my cheese at my local store but I always wonder how long does cheese need to age and how long can I keep it? Will it last longer if I keep it cold and is freezing a good idea? I love cheese but I think it is not good for me to eat it daily. Maybe it is better when I switch types that I use.

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