My mother picked up Pierre Androuet's
The Complete Encyclopedia of French Cheese, published in English in 1973 (originally in French,
Guide du Fromage), and it is the best cheese monger perspective cheese book I have ever seen. The methods this guy uses to discriminate quality in cheeses are inordinately precise, so much so that you realize he is using them to pick out his personal preferences in each cheese, not necessarily the best representation of a cheese(whatever that means). He is the first person I have seen that uses the commonsense idea that cheese quality (for non-pasteurized cheeses) is seasonal. He makes it very clear that for every cheese one must know:
- The approximate date when the cows are put out to pasture;
- The length of time it takes to make the cheese.
Only with this information can one correlate the best milk producing period with the time a cheese hits the market, and have a better chance of finding the best cheeses truly sublime. I think it is interesting that the three special moments within the pasturing season when the cows give such milk are:
- The sprouting of the grass (germination);
- The prime flowering of the meadows;
- The second growth of grass.
Fortunately, we do not need to discover these times in France (they are included in the book), and have the much more enjoyable duty of finding the best non-pasteurized cheeses when they are in their prime. I would live in France for more than a year just to do that. Shota, I found the French version, when you send me your address, you will get the book, the only commitment is that you need to share your experiences!
