Saint-Nectaire vs Tomme des Pyrénées
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.
Tomme des Pyrénées
Facts
- Texture
- Semi-hard
- Type
- Pressed
- Rind
- Waxed or sealed
- Country
- France
- Place
- Midi-Pyrénées
Tomme des Pyrénées is a rustic semi-hard cheese from Midi-Pyrénées, in the French Pyrenees. The usual shop wheel is a squat cylinder with a black or gold coat that makes it easy to spot. Under that coat the paste is supple, ivory to pale yellow, and dotted with small irregular openings. The taste runs from fresh and mild to fuller and lightly earthy, depending on how long the wheel rests. It is a flexible table cheese rather than a sharp grating block.