French cheeses more popular than ever. Have a French Love Affair with Delicious French Cheese

British consumers are, apparently, a nation of cheese eaters. A WDS report from The Grocer magazine in 2022 revealed that we Brits consume 11.38kg of cheese per person per year. With a total consumption of 758,000kg per year.

And Ocado revealed that demand for French cheeses in Britain rose by a very impressive 46% between January to May in 2021.

There's a chart (from TDM) of top cheese exporters to Britain. They are:

1) Ireland 25.41%

2) France 15.6%

3) Italy 8.6%

96% of Brits are confidant that they can name at least one type of French cheese, Brie hits the top spot closely followed by Camembert.

25% of we Brits eat French cheese several times during the average week whilst 43% eat French cheese at least once a week. 69% of us eat French cheese at least once a month.

In Britain French cheeses and dairy products are considered to be high-quality with historical, well-established culinary traditions and heritage.

Let's take a look at three of the 1,000 different cheeses that are made in France. 

First we'll look at Brie De Meaux.

This is a cow's milk cheese from Northern France. 

How to keep it? Refrigerated at temperatures under 8C.

The recommendations for usage are if you have a piece 500g or larger it must be eaten within 14 days of you receiving it.

If you have smaller pieces then they must be eaten within ten days of you receiving it. However, being totally honest here, the average lifespan of Brie De Meaux in our house is to be counted in minutes rather than days as both my wife and myself do love Brie De Meaux!

It was a perfect example of Brie De Meaux, the white rind was perfect, the centre was gooey and had a rich aroma. The taste was heaven on a cracker. 

Comté cheese originated in the Jura mountains of France (on the French-Swiss border) and is an unpasturised cheese. It's another cheese made with cows' milk. It's a hard cheese and as with Brie De Meaux, should be kept in a refrigerator and eaten within 14 days. Or 14 minutes, as this cheese was very much to our liking. It has a smooth texture and the flavour was nutty and mellow.

And then, last but by no means least, we find a third equally delicious French cheese, Tomme De Savoie Fermier.

Again it is a cheese made with cows' milk. The milk used is raw and salt is added along with specially chosen lactic ferements and animal rennet. So, as with the other cheeses we have written about, this is not suitable for strict vegetarians.

This cheese is a very special cheese. It's described as being "fudgy" and when I opened the cheese removing it from its waxed paper I noticed that it really was "fudgy."

It's a very rich cheese with earthy aromas and the taste is delightfully earthy, gorgeous and pretty unique.

Where can these cheeses be purchased? https://mons-cheese.co.uk and https://lafromagerie.co.uk.

Why not celebrate National Picnic Day and National Picnic Week (June 17-26) with some of the above cheeses? 

If you do, we would suggest purchasing a handy cool bag to make sure your cheese is kept nice and tasty for your picnic munching. Maybe take some celery along, with some salt plus some French butter for your crackers?

We would like to thank our friends in the sector who offered us such wonderful assistance in creating this blogpost. 

If you would like to learn more about the vibrant French dairy sector may we suggest you check out CNIEL at the following link? https://www.filiere-laitiere.fr/en/organizations/cniel