When it comes to flavor, the French have very refined palates, and are also very demanding.
Although the market has been flooded with cheeses made from pasteurized milk, French cheese lovers still remain loyal to raw milk and are conscientious in their tasting habits.
Also read: 4 Common Types of Animal’s Milk Used to Make Cheese
This is Why the French Love Raw Milk Cheese
The French love raw milk cheeses because of their natural flavor. Raw milk cheese has NOT undergone thermal treatment, so it still contains the bacterial floras that help to develop aromas during ripening.
Furthermore, raw milk cheese production is an ancestral tradition, part of the French History.
For France, defending and protecting these techniques also means preserving its gastronomic heritage.
The AOC is also about consumer protection – protecting consumers’ right to a diversity of flavors amid the flood of industrialized, pasteurized products which bring blander flavors and standardization.
Also read: The History of Cheese 101 (TIMELINE AND FACTS)
Do France Produce the Best Cheese?
Good cheese can be found everywhere, regardless if it is made with raw milk or pasteurized milk.
Flavor, though, is a subjective matter. To say that France makes the best cheese would be incredibly misleading.
However, what the French have is a past and regional traditions anchored in their terroir.
France highly emphasize the unique importance of a landscape’s soil and climate, the local conditions that affect sensitive agricultural products such as milk, wine, meat, vegetables, and cheese.
France is fortunate that the scope and variety of this terroir, between mountains and plains, enables them to enjoy an extremely diverse range of cheeses, perhaps the most diverse in the world I’d say.
Also read: Goat Cheese vs. Cow Cheese (THE DIFFERENCES)
Is Cheese Made Everywhere in France?
This is a difficult question to answer.
It is impossible to know all French cheeses. The truth is, some appear while others disappear on a weekly basis.
Furthermore, not all French cheese have AOP labeling.
The regions of lowest cheese production in France are those along the Atlantic Ocean. There grass is scarcer and livestock breeding rarer.
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