French cheese :)

French
   cheeses

 

Steve confesses...
   When I first began selling cheeses in the late 1970’s, I did not understand the relationship between the selling price of a cheese and its taste! I just couldn’t understand how some hoity-toity French cheese could be worth $10.00 a lb. when Monterey Jack sold for $3.00 ! My thinking has changed… here’s why !
   In Wisconsin or California you have cheese plants that produce 200,000 lbs. [90 tonnes] of cheddar per DAY! All of the cheese is produced automatically without anybody even seeing the curd until it comes out of a huge vertical press in the form of 40 lb. [18 kg] blocks of cheese… destined for a Taco Bell for grating into a Burrito.
   In France you have very small plants. People like Robert Rouzaire contract with artisan cheese makers to create spectacular cheeses to his specifications; he then exports them to the United States.
   Small dairy farmers in Gaye (near Coulommiers) and Tournan (near Meaux) create by hand for Mr. Rouzaire what may be the best double cream cheese made in the world. It is called Gratte-Paille. Recently the Milk Pail Market began to carry Gratte-Paille along with about fifteen other hand made French cheeses. They are INCREDIBLE! You only need to use a very small amount on a fresh piece of Baguette… the flavor is Heavenly. The value when compared to Monterey Jack is beyond discussion. It’s the difference between Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice and Tang®.

 

   One of our regular Milk Pail shoppers is a woman from France who tells us she’s thrilled to find so many great French cheeses right here at the Milk Pail. Cheeses like…

  • Reblochon
  • Crottins
  • Gaperon
  • Belle Des Champs
  • Picandine
  • Chaubier
  • Munster Géromé
  • Sainte-Maure
  • Pont-l’Evêque
  • Le Carre du Berry
  • Délice d’Argental
  • Rigotte
  • Roquefort
  • Chabichou du Poitou
  • Ossau-Iraty Onetik
  • Pierre-Robert
  • Le Fougerus
  • Camembert
  • French Butter
  • Bleu d’Auvergne
  • Explorateur
  • Morbier
  • Cabriquet
  • Perail de Brebis
  • St. Nectaire
  • Saint Felicien
  • Brin d’Amour
  • Bucheron
  • Fleur d’Aunis
  • Rambol Fumé
  • Tomme de Savoie
  • Fol EPI
  • Tourrée de L’aubier
  • French Raclette
  • Gratte-Paille
  • Selles-sur-Cher
  • Coulommiers
  • Cabecou
  • St. André
  • Brie de Meaux (AOC)
  • Saint Marcellin
  • Mimolette Demi Vieille
  • Comté
  • Saint Agur
  • Jean Grogne


(If you don’t readily associate a flavor with each of these famous names, you should join us at our next tasting!)

Make the Milk Pail your
   French (cheese) Connection…

   We have the exquisite tastes other stores can only dream of… and we have them fresh, because our loyal customers keep them flying out the door as fast as we can fly them in! The entire cheese sells, none goes to waste, so we don’t need to pump up our prices. Drop by and discover for yourself why the editors of Metro picked Milk Pail Market as a “Best of Silicon Valley” (1996).

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