5 Delicious French Cheeses You Should Try

“Un repas sans fromage est une belle à qui il manque un œil.” (“A meal without cheese is a beautiful woman with an eye missing.”) – Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826), food writer.

If you are going to spend some time in Paris, you’ll probably run around a lot to visit everything. But French culture isn’t only in museums and monuments: our country is also well known for our famous French cuisine! In France, meals are sacred – even if we don’t go to a restaurant, people will always save some time to enjoy a nice dinner together. This is definitely something you can’t miss! And during your stay in Paris, what better way to experience wonderful French food than tasting one of the 400 types of cheese produced in France today? To help you make choices, here is our list of 5 delicious French cheeses you need to try:

5.] Tomme de Savoie

The 5th cheese in our top 5 French cheese is Tomme de Savoie, one of the oldest cheeses from the French Alps! It is made from cow milk all year round and will have a different character throughout the seasons depending on what the cows are fed (hay in winter or grass in summer). Plus, it has a low fat content compared to other cheeses, so you can eat as much as you like!

4.] Roquefort

Our top 5 French cheeses wouldn’t be complete without this one! Roquefort is one of the world’s most famous blue cheeses. Made from sheep milk in the south of France, it is an “AOC” cheese, meaning that as a guaranty of its quality, it can only bear the name Roquefort if it has been produced within 100 km of the little village of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon. Its characteristic streaks of green mold comes from a five month ripening period in the caves of the area. With a subtle mild and sharp overall flavor, it is also used in local cuisine to make wonderful sauces or pies!

3.] Comté

Next up in our top 5 French cheeses is the Comté from the eastern-France region of Franche-Comté. It’s certainly one of the most popular cheeses in France, with over 60.000 tons being produced every year! If you want to eat the best Comté, make sure you choose one with a green label: this means this particular piece has been rated by inspectors between 15 and 20 on a scale of twenty points.

2.] One of France’s wonderful goat cheeses

I’m afraid I simply couldn’t make a choice on this one! Goat cheese is one of my favourite types of cheese and France has so many amazing ones to offer. Among my favorites are Rocamadour and Chabichou du Poitou, from the west of France, or Crottin de Chavignol, from the Loire river valley. Anyway, you can’t go wrong with goat cheese – especially accompanied by fig or orange jam and a nice glass of white wine!

1.] Camembert de Normandie

As a French person, I think I absolutely had to finish this top 5 french cheeses with Camembert as the best of all our cheeses! Although taste may vary, everybody knows Camembert as one of the symbols of French identity, with the béret, the marinière and the baguette! During WW1, every single French soldier even had his share of Camembert in his daily ration! If you want to try it, ask for Camembert de Normandie, which is the most famous and is of great quality.