Cheesewatch

As I may have mentioned before, I have vowed, since I am in the land of cheese, to try a different variety whenever I'm in the market for some cheese. Whether or not 'fun with cheese' makes for a particularly exciting blog entry, I don't know, but I'm going to occasionally report on cheeses of note anyway.

Now, I have been consuming and enjoying cheese, including French cheese, for quite some time without being moved to blog about it. But I was driven to the internet by my latest acquisition, a charmingly-named 'Petits Amis' Munster-Géromé cheese. Indeed, from the outside all is well with this cheese - it seems a perfect choice for frolicking with a mate or forcing children to carry heavy milk vats half their size:



But on further examination, I had to turn to the net for reassurance that I wasn't risking my health in eating this cheese, because it is a big ball of wrong.

The main problem isn't that it smells like damp socks, or its rather livid colour, or the fact that once you cut into the rind it has the inner consistency of brie that's been sitting out on a hot day, despite being fresh from the fridge. Rather, the problem is that it comes out of its refrigerated cocoon WET. Covered with a disgusting slimy coating. According to my mates at Wikipedia , this is normal and a result of its special manufacturing process, which involves ageing the cheese for 5 weeks in 'damp cellars', all the while bathing it regularly in brine. Which all makes for a delightfully slimy/sticky customer. If you have a weak stomach, I advise you to look away now and especially to not pay attention to the visible sticky run-off collected on the wrapper:



But as you can see, after reassurance from the interwebs that this is deliberate, I forged ahead and ate some (not all in one sitting in case you're wondering). And the verdict is... it packs a flavour punch, with predominate mould notes, but is actually not toooo bad if you can get over the "arrgh, a cheese made of toads!" thing. I think once is enough for me and this petit ami though!