There is an old saying that goes “age doesn’t matter, unless you’re a cheese”. Besides its funny connotation, there is also a slight truth in it. Aging in cheese, also known as ripening, is actually the most crucial part of cheese making.
By letting the cheese to rest in carefully controlled conditions, they are able to develop the look, the texture, the flavor and even the aroma properties that make them unique. With aging, the bloom blossoms on Camembert, the holes magically turns into Swiss, and the veins burst through Gorgonzola.
During ripening, microbes and enzymes develop inside that breaks down the proteins and milk fat into different complex amino acids. The result, a rich texture and an intense flavor.
In order to have their own unique characteristics, most cheeses are aged between the periods of two weeks to two or more years. Therefore, the longer the cheese is aged, the firmer, sharper and more distinctive its texture becomes.
Cheeses like the Stravecchio Parmigiano Reggiano for example, are ripened for 24 to 36 months, giving it a nutty-fruity taste and a hard, gritty texture. The mildest cheeses such as ricotta, and cream and cottage, are eaten fresh right away and are not ripened at all.
However, there are some cheeses that are ripened halfway through these cheeses are called semi-aged cheese for only about 5 to 10 weeks only. And one of the greatest tasting semi aged in the market today is the Bucheron Soignon cheese.
Bucheron Cheese is a goat’s milk cheese, a native produce of Loire Valley in France. The Bucheron is a very popular ingredient for salads and sandwiches because of its distinct taste and is readily available in most grocery stores. Its soft, creamy center has almost the same texture of ordinary chevre (goat cheese), but Bucheron is far from ordinary.
One unique feature of the Bucheron cheese is its packaging it is made in short logs and aged before it is cut into smaller rounds. Its creamy center is surrounded by a much harder and tangier cheese that has a sharp and complex taste that, a lot better than your typical chevre.
A very interesting characteristic of the Bucheron cheese is its structure it has a layer of gooey cheese around the large chalky core, and a thin bloomy layer of mold like that or brie cheese. This is because softly ripened cheeses are aged from the outside in, thus the interesting center of the Bucheron.
Buying the Bucheron cheese is like buying two different cheeses at once: a creamy, mushroomy center, and a dry, clay-like and tangy fresh goat milk at the crust. Go ahead and try Bucheron cheese today! Pair it with Bordeaux’s or any dry whites and sink slowly into heaven.
Find out more about Bucheron Cheese.