To people who like food, pasteurization must be viewed as a mixed blessing at best. Oh, sure, the flash-heating process kills bacteria in milk and other liquids. But it also kills taste.In the world of cheese, wrong-headed bureaucrats at the Food & Drug Administration long ago enacted a draconian standard for allowing imported cheese into the United States. It either must be pasteurized or aged for a minimum of 60 days.
That presents a problem for certain younger cheeses -- and the Americans who love them. Case in point: St. Nectaire, the wondrously silky soft cheese that is properly made from the fresh, unpasteurized milk of French cows.
If you go to France, you can get that marvelous raw-milk variety, which is dense and soft and creamy, with a classic mushroomy aroma. It's a farmhouse cheese in all its earthy glory.
Sadly, the FDA won't allow the importation of that kind, because real St. Nectaire is made with uncooked milk, then sold while it's young. So while the versions of St. Nectaire you can get in the United States can be tasty, they're often relatively bland.
Even if you get one of the better pasteurized versions (look for the Babut or Prugne brands), they're not the real thing. They're just not. If you want to taste the difference, go to France.
(Note: I chose to write about St. Nectaire today because a reader mentioned it in a previous post. If there are any cheeses other people want me to write about, write a comment and I will.)
3 comments:
Oh, dear...I'm so sorry to read this. I was so delighted today to find Saint-Nectaire in a local cheese store, and bought myself a piece, remembering the delicious one I enjoyed in France--oh, a dozen years ago. And now to find out that what I bought is some ersatz, politically-correct, pasteurized version...oh, well. I'll have to call the Cheese store back and find out which one it was...it was a much smaller wheel than the one I had in France (someone had given me a whole half-wheel as a present).
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For adding something more to this great article.
Saint-Nectaire is a French cheese made in the Auvergne region of central France. The cheese has been made in Auvergne since at least the 17th century. Its name comes from the Marshal of Senneterre (a linguistic corruption of "Saint-Nectaire"), who served it at the table of Louis XIV. The Marshal of Senneterre is also responsible for the introduction of Cantal and Salers.
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