The Revived Cheese Diary - Loire Valley Offerings

It's been a looong time since I first posted on cheeses. I guess I deemed all the ones I've tried in between not very different (just the standard ones you can get in the commercial cheese sections, like gouda, havarti, edam and so on). Today, I thought I'd revive my attempted diary logging the interesting cheeses I try. I'll look at two slightly different ones in this entry - boucheron and madrigal.

Boucheron Cheese

This is a goat's milk cheese from Loire Valley, France. It was soft and semi-firm, and with a slightly creamy texture. It had a very milky or strong cheesy taste and pungence, and was slightly nutty. 

It was quite different from the Wikipedia article on this type of cheese... so perhaps this wasn't aged as much? Given that it was bought at a supermarket, perhaps it was a more commercialised version. Or maybe it was mislabelled?? O_o

Madrigal Cheese

This is apparently also from Loire Valley, France, even though I thought the name sounded Spanish haha. As you can see from the picture, it's slightly redder in hue and firmer. (Note that the picture above has a plastic cling wrap around it.) I guess semi-hard, not just semi-firm.

The taste was sweet and nutty, and reminded me of Swiss cheeses, like emmental for instance. Even the holes make it look Swiss, such that it is sometimes called Madrigal Swiss.

I liked this cheese quite a bit, because I like the nutty and sweet combination, which is a nice balance between being interesting and yet easy on the palate. And the firmness gives it a nice chewing experience. I also loved the classic holey look and the redness in the hue.