Removals to France: The History of French Cheese and a Spotlight on the Regional Specialities

If you require removals to France, you will already know that the country is famous for its cheese and there are well over 400 different types of cheeses in France. Just like with French wines, the taste of cheese varies from region to region and just as there are professional wine tasters and sommeliers, there are also professional cheese tasters in France.

From soft cheeses, to goats’ cheese, sheep’s cheese, blue cheese and hard cheese, there are all sorts of cheeses in France. And, if you like cheese, once you have organised your removals to France, you will have the opportunity to regularly visit local markets to stock up on the region’s specialities.

In the meantime, to ensure you receive excellent customer service for removals to France, Hamiltons offer high quality removals at very competitive prices. We are specialists in removals to France and, whether you require household or office moves, we will ensure that everything runs smoothly so you and your family can look forward to enjoying your new life abroad.

If you are interested in finding more about French cheeses, here’s our guide to the history of cheese in France and some regional specialities.

Removals to France – click here to find out more about our removals to France service.

History of Cheese in France

It would be almost impossible to put a date on when cheese was first invented but its origins are thought to date as far back to 8000 BC, or even earlier. There are a few ancient records of early cheese production, including pictures of milk being stored in skin bags on ancient Egyptian wall paintings.

Although it is difficult to pinpoint exactly how cheese production came about, it is thought cheese was invented quite by accident in Asia. It is believed that cheese was first made when the nomadic tribes were transporting milk in animal skins and the fermentation, together with the constant movement from travelling, churned the milk and turned it into cheese.

Word spread about this new type of food and to date there are several hundred different types of cheese produced all over the world including Scandinavia, Greece, Switzerland, Ireland, England, Holland, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, the US, Egypt, Brazil, Argentina and Tibet.

France, however, is one of the biggest cheese producers in the world, producing some 1,900 metric tonnes of it a year. It is also the top cheese exporter in the world and plenty of cheese is consumed at home too in France; around 57.5 pounds of cheese is eaten per head of population.

Cheese was first thought to have been introduced into France by the Romans, who perfected the art of cheese making. It was first produced in the south and west of the country and soft cheeses were initially preferred over hard cheese.

Now there are different cheeses produced all over the country and different regions have their own specialities. It will be impossible to state all of these here, so we will look at just some of these below.

So if you require removals to France, read on to find out more about the regional specialities that you can try out once your move is complete and you have settled into your brand new home.

French Cheese: Some Popular Regional Specialities

Camembert de Normandie – This is a top selling French cheese from the Normandy region which has been awarded the Appellation d’origine Contrôlée (AOC), which is the highest classification for French cheese. It is a soft cheese first made in 1791 by a farmer’s wife on advice from a priest from Brie.

Brie de Meaux – This soft cheese comes from the town of Meaux in the Brie region in Ile de France, which is in the area of Paris. Brie de Meaux is made from raw cows’ milk and in the early 1800’s was proclaimed the ‘King of Cheeses’. The ageing process takes between six to eight weeks.

Roquefort – This is a hard cheese from the Midi-Pyrénées area of France, which is the largest region of France and borders Spain.  It is a sheep’s milk blue cheese and is globally one of the best known blue cheeses. There is a romantic legend that surrounds it, and it is said that a youth who was eating the cheese abandoned his meal when he caught sight of a beautiful girl. A few months later he returned and saw mould had formed on the cheese, creating what is now known as Roquefort.

Comté – Comté is a cheese that hails from the Franche-Comté region in eastern France. It also has also been awarded the AOC and, out of all of the AOC cheeses, this has the highest production rate, with 400,000 tonnes made every year. It is a hard cheese made from unpasteurised cow’s milk. 

Reblochon – This is a popular cheese made in the Alpine region of Haute-Savoie. Its name comes from a word that means milking a cow. It is a soft cheese with a nutty taste and more than 17 million kilograms of it is produced a year.

Munster – This is a soft cheese made from unpasteurised cow’s milk and is produced in the Vosges department in the Lorraine region. Its name is thought to have come from the Latin word ‘Monastery’.

Époisses de Bourgogne – This is a strong-smelling soft cheese made from unpasteurised cow’s milk. It had many famous fans including Napoleon and, along with brie, it has also been named as the ‘King of Cheeses’. It is produced in the Côte d’Or department of France and has its origins in the 16th century.

About Hamiltons

Hamiltons specialise in removals to France and we offer a variety of services for our customers including packing, storage, removal of specialist items and also cleaning of the property you have vacated.

Removals to France – click here for full information on our removals to France service or click here for a free European removals quote.