French cheeses: A journey through the terroirs of France
French cheeses: A journey through the terroirs of France
France is known all over the world for its rich and diverse culinary culture, and cheese is one of its cornerstones. With over 1,200 varieties, French cheese is a true national treasure, with each region having its own specialities, traditions and manufacturing techniques.
Whether you’re a fan of mild, creamy cheeses or stronger, more mature flavors, there’s a French cheese to delight your taste buds.
At Paris & Bordeaux a dream, we’re cheese lovers. That’s why Isabelle, the founder, decided to include cheese tastings in each of our food tour, after visiting each of the farmers.
So let’s set off together to discover France’s most emblematic cheeses and their regions of origin.
Saint-Germain des Prés, Savoie in the spotlight
On our Saint-Germain des Prés food tour, we’re tasting cheeses straight from Savoie, in a cellar reserved exclusively for our tours. There, we taste :
🧀 Tomme de Savoie: Tomme de Savoie is a pressed, uncooked cheese made from raw or pasteurized milk. Its texture is supple, sometimes slightly grainy, and its taste varies with maturation, ranging from mild to more pronounced with hints of hazelnut.
🧀 Beaufort: Nicknamed the “Prince of Gruyères”, this pressed, cooked cheese is made exclusively with raw milk from local breeds of cow (Tarine and Abondance). Its taste is fruity and delicately nutty, with a firm, melting texture. At the exclusive address where we serve these cheeses, we offer summer and winter Beauforts for tasting.
Sud Montmartre, a cheese tour of France
🧀 In our Sud Montmartre food tour, we taste cheeses from all over France, with a visit to a 100-year-old cheese factory.
Belleville, a trip to Auvergne
On our Belleville food tour, we chose a restaurant to introduce you to Auvergne cheeses. Auvergne cheeses are renowned for their quality and diversity, thanks to the region’s rich pastures. Among them, five are AOP: Saint-Nectaire, with its mild, mellow taste; Cantal, with flavors that vary according to its maturation; Bleu d’Auvergne, creamy and marbled; Fourme d’Ambert, milder; and Salers, powerful and herbaceous. These cheeses reflect the know-how and unique terroir of the Auvergne region.
Bordeaux and its New Aquitaine cheeses
During our food tour of historic Bordeaux, we’ll be sampling cow, ewe and goat’s milk cheeses, emblematic of western France:
🧀 Ossau-Iraty (ewe): Pressed, uncooked Basque cheese made from ewe’s milk. It offers a firm, melt-in-the-mouth texture with sweet, fruity flavors, enhanced by subtle notes of hazelnut. It has PDO status and reflects the terroir of the Pyrenees.
🧀 Tomme de chèvre : Pressed, uncooked cheese made from goat’s milk. Its paste is supple, and its taste is generally fresh, with slightly goaty and often herbaceous aromas, which intensify with maturing.
🧀 Tomme de vache au piment d’Espelette: This pressed, uncooked cheese combines the sweetness of cow’s milk with a spicy, fragrant note thanks to the addition of piment d’Espelette, the emblematic spice of the Basque country, offering a subtle balance between creaminess and spiciness.
You can also find our New Aquitaine cheeses on our Bordeaux Chartrons food tour.
In conclusion
French cheeses are ambassadors for French culture, history and terroir. Whether you’re a fan of mild cheeses or prefer bolder flavors, France is bound to have a cheese to tempt you.
At Paris & Bordeaux a Dream, we invite you to discover these cheesy delights on our food tours of Paris and Bordeaux. We offer tastings of AOP cheeses, a European quality label. In France, 45 cheeses are AOP, 3 butters and 2 creams. We’re big fans of quality labels.
Our workshops
Come and create your own tomme cheese in our workshops! Learn how to make your own cheese, thanks to the expertise of master cheesemakers who will guide you through every stage from butter and tomme making to maturing, in a 17th-century maturing cellar!
Let our experts guide you through a tasting experience that will awaken your senses and enrich your knowledge of this unique culinary heritage.
Come taste, learn and appreciate the diversity of French cheeses with us!
Contact us for more information and to discover Bordeaux and Paris through its gastronomy. The shopkeepers and artisans who bring life to the neighborhood are just waiting to meet you!
See you soon 😉