Jenny Deeprose shares her expert knowledge of French cheeses and recommends some seasonal favourites

Celebrate the darker evenings with autumn treats to bring back memories of markets and regional delicacies. Go for quality cheeses with an appellation d’origine controllée (AOC), the mark of consistency and traditional methods.

Cheeses made in the Jura mountains, with the summer milk of Montbéliarde cows, are rich in flowery grass. Comté (AOC) is aged for at least four months, preferably on spruce shelves, in cellars. Cheeses are regularly turned, and rubbed with salt. After grading, the best, matured on to 12 and 18 months, are transformed from a pale sweetness to a golden fruitiness.

Fourme d’Ambert (AOC) is a creamy aromatic blue cheese made for centuries in the Auvergne region. It has penicillium roquefortii mixed into the milk to allow blue veins to develop. Piercing allows these to spread and ripening needs at least 30 days. The cheese is cut on the slant to display its blue creamy heart.

Also from the Auvergne is Gaperon (La Tradition). A soft cheese flavoured with garlic and peppercorns and presented in a flattened ball shape. The rind is firm but the inside is creamy – and is traditionally at its peak in the autumn.

Falling leaves from the sweet chestnut are harvested to wrap round Banon (AOC), from the Alpes-de-Haute Provence. Using milk from Roves and Alpine goats, this delicately nutty flavoured cheese is reminiscent of the lavender and herb pastures.

Livarot (AOC) was known as the ‘poor man’s meat’ because of its nutritional values. From Calvados, its smooth orange rind surrounded by bands of reed has been washed and ripened for over 2 months. Strong, racy and bursting with flavour.

Valençay (AOC), made from goat’s milk, is fullbodied, smooth and has a nutty flavour. Covered in salted ash it can be ripened from ten days to five weeks. Legend says it used to be a complete pyramid, until Napolean took offence, lopping off the top with his sword because it reminded him of his unsuccessful military campaign in Egypt.

Normandy has many special cheeses, but the distinction of the square Pont l’Evêque (AOC) – soft to the touch with a refined complex taste - is its generous suppleness and ‘harmonious aroma’ after six weeks of ripening. A fitting
addition to our autumn selection for a French regional cheeseboard.

By cheese expert Jenny Deeprose