Cathare vs Valençay
Cathare
Facts
- Milk
- Goat
- Texture
- Soft
- Type
- Bloomy rind
- Rind
- Natural rind
- Country
- France
Cathare is a soft goat's milk cheese from France, formed as a flat disc. The top is dusted with charcoal ash, and an Occitan cross is marked in that dark surface, which makes the cheese easy to recognize. Under the coat the paste is white and creamy, with a light goat flavor when the disc is young. That flavor grows stronger as the cheese ages and the paste settles. A little white mold may dust the ash, but the cross remains the mark to look for.
Valençay
Facts
- Milk
- Goat
- Texture
- Soft
- Type
- Bloomy rind
- Rind
- Bloomy rind
- Country
- France
- Place
- Centre-Val de Loire
Valençay is a soft goat's milk cheese from Centre-Val de Loire, in France. Each cheese is a small truncated pyramid, flat across the top, with a coat of vegetable ash. A light bloomy surface develops over that gray coat as the cheese rests. The paste is white and moist, creamy near the rind and a little chalky at the center when young. The taste is bright, tangy, and lightly salty, with a clean goat note.