T.S. Eliot wrote: April is the cruelest month. Maybe so when we’re talking about perpetually frizzy hair, pasty white legs yearning for summer bronze, and stirring dull roots with spring rain (more T.S.). But not so when we’re talking about cheese! April is the most generous of months, with the young goat and sheep’s milk cheeses making their seasonal debut, and last summer’s Alpine cheeses settling into a new layer of complexity. I find my mind wandering to the lush, goat-filled Loire Valley in France, and rows of soft-ripened cheeses steadily growing wisps of white mould on their their ashy surfaces. Bring on the picnic basket, crusty baguette and chilled vino and look for theses cheeses to celebrate the spring season:
- Loire valley goat’s milk cheeses: Selles sur Cher, Valencay, Sainte Maure.
- Mixed milk cheeses from Provence: Banon, Saint Marcellin.
- Iberian soft sheep’s milk cheeses: Azeitao, Torta del Casar.