#cabricharme

[boynevalleycheese]

Super RG @cheeseplus: Our Current Crush... Cabricharme La Fromagerie de Méan Maffe, Belgium Raw Goat Milk A Cheese Made in Belgium Selection This tender and gooey delight is brought to us by our friend Peter Verbruggen at Cheese - Made in Belgium. Peter sources fantastic Belgian cheese for us here at The Plus and we've been enjoying this washed rind goat cheese all summer long. Made in the traditional Trappist style (think true Port Salut) this aromatic beauty is brine-washed producing its rich golden exterior. The rind is a bit salty and chewy, which makes an enjoyable contrast to the luscious creamy interior. In the mouth it's like a meaty Pot de Creme, loaded with earthy flavors of mushrooms and broth with a tangy finish. A perfect match with Beer, preferably a cloudy Belgian Hefeweizen, served alongside a few slices of smoky Ham or Prosciutto, a crisp Pear, and a crusty Baguette! #cabricharme #cmib #cheesemadeinbelgium #washed rind #goatcheese #lafromageriedemean #belgium #belgian #ourcurrentcrush #regramapp

[cheesenotes]

Spotted at the cheese counter of Artisanal Bistro: Cabricharme, a washed rind, raw goat's milk cheese from La Fermiere de Méan in Maffe, in the Ardennes region of Belgium. Belgium has been woefully underrepresented in the American cheese case for a long time, but that's changing now; in NYC, cheesemongers such as Artisanal and Bedford Cheese Shop in particular seem to be been making an effort to carry more cheeses from artisanal Belgian producers, judging from their cases. I even purchased a raw milk, Camembert-style, under-60-day Belgian cheese at one of the mongers in the city recently, although I'm not going to name where I found it (although it should be said that they were surprisingly cavalier in advertising the cheese's black-market status).

One of the cheeses for which Belgium is best known is Chimay, a "Trappist" cow's milk cheese washed in the Belgian beer of the same name. Cabricharme is essentially a Trappist washed rind cheese made with goat's milk, and based on the same recipe used for Le Charmoix, another washed rind cheese developed by Fermiere de Méan.

The rind is rose-pink and sticky to the touch, with the gritty texture of a Trappist washed rind, a bit on the thicker side but not excessively so. Cabricharme has a wonderful pungency, yeasty from the beer washes, with beefy, mushroomy and musty qualities. The paste, bone white, is velvety, creamy and oozing, bulging and collapsing out of the rind as it warms. This cheese has a slightly unusual texture — that I've observed in other washed rind goat's milk cheeses, particularly the Holzeme Geiss (Wooden Goat) from Willi Schmid — an almost marshmallow'y, borderline spongy texture that imparts a delightful, but unexpected, mouthfeel. In flavor the Cabricharme is buttery, with an unusual tangy quality, sweet, meaty, mushroomy and yeasty, with notes of hops and grass, but without any goaty bite.

If you're looking to expand your knowledge of Belgian cheeses, the Cabricharme is an excellent place to start! (insert painful joke about it being "full of charm")

Purchased at Artisanal.

Update: Courtesy of a NYC cheesemonger, a photo of the adorable label for the Cabricharme.