Saint-Nectaire vs Tome fraîche
Saint-Nectaire
Facts
- Milk
- Cow
- Texture
- Semi-soft
- Type
- Pressed
- Rind
- Natural rind
- Country
- France
- Place
- Auvergne
Saint-Nectaire is a semi-soft cow's milk cheese from Auvergne, in central France. It is pressed, not cooked, and formed into a flat round with a gray, mottled rind. The paste is supple, ivory to pale gold, and usually has a few small holes. The smell of the rind suggests damp earth, straw, and a cellar, while the inside stays milky. Farmhouse and dairy versions both exist, and the label tells them apart.
Tome fraîche
Facts
- Milk
- Cow
- Texture
- Semi-hard
- Type
- Pressed
- Rind
- No rind
- Country
- France
- Place
- Auvergne and Aubrac
Tome fraîche is a cow's milk cheese from Auvergne and Aubrac in France, pressed while it is still fresh and sold before a rind can form. The paste is pale, lightly fermented, and left unsalted, so the flavor stays milky rather than sharp. Makers often lift this curd out of the early path used for Cantal, Salers, or Laguiole, then send it to cooks instead of to a long cellar. It is a kitchen cheese, and its reputation rests on hot potato dishes that need stretch.