{"id":90459,"date":"2022-04-19T17:23:21","date_gmt":"2022-04-19T07:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/?p=90459"},"modified":"2022-04-19T17:50:13","modified_gmt":"2022-04-19T07:50:13","slug":"neufchatel-the-wonder-of-fromage-unveiling-one-french-cheese-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/2022\/04\/19\/neufchatel-the-wonder-of-fromage-unveiling-one-french-cheese-at-a-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Neufch\u00e2tel: The wonder of Fromage \u2013 unveiling one French cheese at a time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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There are two major myths that need debunking when it comes to the French cheese known as Neufch\u00e2tel. The first, of course, is any association with the low-fat cream cheese masquerading under the same name in the U.S. Neufch\u00e2tel in France refers to a bloomy-rinded soft cheese<\/a> \u2013 not unlike fellow Norman son Camembert \u2013 with a dense, fudgy interior, a powerful, salty kick, and a surprising shape: that of a heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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According to Patrick Chevallier<\/a><\/strong>, President of the Confr\u00e9rie des compagnons du fromage neufch\u00e2tel <\/strong><\/em>\u2013 a brotherhood devoted to the cheese \u2013 it was ostensibly invented by local maidens during the 100 Years\u2019 War. To hear him tell it, the young women would give the heart-shaped cheeses to their lovers \u2013 English occupying soldiers \u2013 as a symbol of their enduring love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a legend, of course, but it\u2019s pretty! We have to keep it going! says Chevallier. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

And keep it going they have. Today somewhere between 80 and 90 percent of Neufch\u00e2tel cheese is indeed sold in the shape of a heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Neufch\u00e2tel?<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Neufch\u00e2tel is a member of the bloomy-rinded family of cheeses \u2013 the same category to which Brie and Camembert belong. Neufch\u00e2tel specifically boasts a long and illustrious history, referenced according to Chevallier, as early as 1035.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are ostensibly written records \u2013 which I\u2019ve never seen \u2013 that reference the cheese tithe to the Lords of La Fert\u00e9. Those are the first written records referring to Neufch\u00e2tel.<\/p>explains Chevaillier<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As compared to Camembert, which hails from the Pays d\u2019Auge (a part of Normandy long better known for washed rind specialties like Livarot) and was ostensibly invented in the 18th<\/sup> century, Neufch\u00e2tel is a venerable old cheese to be sure! What\u2019s perhaps more recent is the most popular form of the cheese: In addition to the heart, Neufch\u00e2tel is also available in several ancestral shapes, including the 100-gram bonde<\/em> and 200-gram double bonde<\/em> \u2013 both of which are log-shaped \u2013 as well as the 100-gram briquette.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd of course,\u201d says Chevallier, \u201cthere\u2019s the gros coeur<\/em>.\u201d This massive heart is three times the size of the norm, at 600 grams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pierre Villiers<\/strong>, a seventh-generation Neufch\u00e2tel producer in Illois<\/a> and the President of the Neufch\u00e2tel guild, produces all of these shapes on the family farm<\/a>.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the family size,\u201d he says of the gros coeur. <\/em>\u201cWe mainly sell that in Normandy, for really big fans of Neufch\u00e2tel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And according to Villiers, his is the only French cheese<\/a> AOP that can be sold in multiple forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you make Neufch\u00e2tel?<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Neufch\u00e2tel starts, as all cheeses do, with milk. But not just any milk! Normandy is home to a native breed of cow descended from animals brought to this region by Viking invaders in the 9th<\/sup> and 10th<\/sup> centuries, and since 2017, herds devoted to Neufch\u00e2tel must be made up of at least 60 percent of these white cows splotched with brown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“We\u2019re at about 70 percent Normandes,\u201d says Villiers, who notes that until the new rule was passed, producers often relied, instead, on Holsteins, known for their massive milk supply \u2013 about 30 to 35 liters a day, as compared to the 20 to 25 rendered by a Normande.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s a richer milk,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s richer in protein and in fat.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

And he should know \u2013 on his farm, Pierre Villiers and his sister spend most of their time making the cheese, while his brothers are divided between the land and the deliveries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While he notes that he and his siblings didn\u2019t necessarily set out to take over from their parents, they\u2019re proud to continue in the centuries-old tradition. And working with one\u2019s family, he says, \u201cis very, very practical.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were raised the same way,\u201d he says. \u201cWe work the same way. And we have the same mentality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The one change the new generation has put into place? Cultivating time for rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur parents worked so hard,\u201d he recalls. \u201cWe never got any time with them, no vacation, because they were working seven days a week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The four siblings, instead, organize themselves so that each one gets at least a day off a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty well organized,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does Neufch\u00e2tel taste like?<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Neufch\u00e2tel may look like a heart-shaped Brie, but it\u2019s anything but. While it does indeed share the mushroomy character shared with its fellow ‘bloomies’, Neufch\u00e2tel is known \u2013 perhaps above all \u2013 for its saltiness, though this has changed in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Chevallier, just ten years ago, some Neufch\u00e2tels would reach three or four percent salt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was due to the method of salting,\u201d he says. \u201cYou\u2019d have the cheese in one hand and a bucket of salt in the other, and you\u2019d just sprinkle the cheese with salt. You couldn\u2019t really measure it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These days, the cheese and salt are both weighed out, to ensure a salt content of just two percent. It\u2019s still, nevertheless, a cheese known for its saline character \u2013 something Villiers says is not a reflection of its actual sodium levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comparing Camembert or a Comt\u00e9 with Neufch\u00e2tel<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you analyze it, you\u2019ll find it actually has less salt than a Camembert or a Comt\u00e9,\u201d he says. \u201cBut the method of fabrication means that the flavor of the salt is more pronounced.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When purchased at a cheesemonger\u2019s or supermarket, Neufch\u00e2tel is often characterized by three distinct textures: the bloomy rind encases a soft, creamy layer flowing around a fudgy, almost grainy core. But this, Chevallier asserts, is a \u201cflaw.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks, fridges! The pate needs to be unctuous. It needs to be soft, it needs to be melting. It should never be grainy.<\/p>Chevallier quips.<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This also comes down to aging: while many shops sell Neufch\u00e2tels that are barely a month old, most experts prefer their Neufch\u00e2tel aged far longer. Chevallier likes his Neufch\u00e2tel at least a month old, so that it becomes slightly creamy, with a tan hue to the white rind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt needs to be nice and soft,\u201d he says, \u201cand it should have never seen the inside of a fridge. That\u2019s the worst horror \u2013 putting cheese in the fridge!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Villiers likes to push his even further, to two or three months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll start to have a brownish color. It\u2019s not all white, anymore,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd it will start to become soft. Really soft.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you enjoy your Neufch\u00e2tel?<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Neufch\u00e2tel\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Unlike other Norman cheeses like Camembert, Pont l\u2019Ev\u00eaque, and Livarot, Neufch\u00e2tel isn\u2019t all that well-known outside of Normandy, something that Villiers tells Le R\u00e9veil<\/a> is due in part to the fact that so little of it is produced: about 1700 tons per year, as compared to 60000 tons of Camembert. (The latter, it must be said, is not a reference to the AOP Camembert de Normandie, which has encountered its own struggles throughout time that I explored in depth for the BBC<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most Neufch\u00e2tel found outside of the region, Villiers continues, is produced by a company called Pays de Bray, owned by the Lactalis group, which also produces the President brand and is the largest producer of French cheese in the world. And while in recent years, Neufch\u00e2tel production, in general, is on the rise, fermi\u00e8re <\/em>production \u2013 that is to say, on-site production of cheese by farmers \u2013 fell by 11 percent between 2009 and 2019, according to Le R\u00e9veil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The time has never been riper to snag some!<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With its salty character, it\u2019s perhaps no surprise that Neufch\u00e2tel marries particularly well with a slightly sweet accompaniment. Chevallier recommends pairing Neufch\u00e2tel with apple, pear, or grapes. \u201c…a juicy, sweet fruit\u201d that will marry well with the salty character of the cheese. He adds another suggestion gleaned from a Meilleur Sommelier de France: a fortified Banyuls wine from the southern Roussillon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for local experts, the true best pairing for Neufch\u00e2tel is another native product: cider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDry cider,\u201d counsels Chevallier. \u201cWine goes well with it too\u2026 but at the end of the day, we\u2019re Norman. We\u2019re a bit chauvinistic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Have you tasted Neufch\u00e2tel are you a connoisseur?<\/strong> Share your preferences and experiences with us in the comments below<\/p>\n\n\n

Image credits:
1, 3, 4, & 5 copyright Emily Monaco
1. – Pierre Villiers with a platter of Neufch\u00e2tel
2. – Patrick Chevallier<\/a><\/strong> in his Confrerie outfit with his wife.\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/address>

Here you can read all articles in this column:<\/span>
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