Coeur de Neufchâtel (Normandy)

Produced in the shape of a heart or tile, this cow’s milk cheese has a rind with a downy, velvety bloom, while the interior is close-textured with a soft crumble and a gentle salty tang. Made to a very old recipe, the curds are slowly drained and a small amount of the previous day’s curds are added to the following day’s. Coeur de Neufchâtel is best eaten quite young as the fresh mushroom aroma and light nutty flavours can become rather sharp and aggressive if allowed to ripen for too long.

The gentle rolling countryside around Forges-les-Eaux is the best area to find this cheese. In the past, women were the cheesemakers, while men tended the herds. As a gesture of love and devotion, the women made the cheeses in a heart shape, especially when the men went to war; a cheese was carefully wrapped and placed in a parting soldier’s breast pocket.