My Swiss and French Cheese Diaries

Perhaps two weeks into my stay across the border from Geneva, I made it my personal challenge to buy as many different types of cheese as I could. At first, I thought it would help me find the cheese with which I would stick for the rest of my stay, but I soon discovered that my local store sold more types of cheese than I could ever hope to taste. Indeed, Charles De Gaulle was off by over seven hundred when he famously lamented: “How can anyone govern a country with 246 varieties of cheese?” That said, I did my best, and I made the following notes on how I liked each cheese I tried:

Abondance – a hard cheese similar to Beaufort though a little saltier.

Beaufort – a flavourful hard cheese without the unappetising sharpness that often comes along with it. Far superior to the similar but much duller comté.

Boursault – concerningly stinky but not as pungent in taste as its smell leads one to believe. A sharp but not quite full flavour.

Brillat Savarin – wetter and slightly more pungent than Camembert. Its sharpness can be a hit or a miss depending on the mood.

Comté – in sweetness, hardness, and moistness, somewhere between Emmental and parmesan. Better than Emmental but far inferior to parmesan because it lacks an edge.

Comté Gelinotte Rouge – not very different from Comté. Similarly sweet and moist, its flavour does not compare to Beaufort or Gruyère.

Cousin – similar to Beaufort but sharper and earthier. Very salty.  

Delice Bourgogne – very soft and creamy, almost like a cross between camembert and cream cheese.

Gruyère Suisse – a hard flavourful cheese similar to Beaufort.

Loubressac – a soft sheep’s cheese with a solid flavour. Difficult to eat in warmer temperatures because the inside turns very liquid.   

Luzerner Rahmkäse – somewhat stinky and salty for a semihard cheese. Not bad but difficult to eat in large quantities.

Mont d’Or – rubbery despite its soft appearance and lacking a distinctive taste.

Pavé du Lot – like a brie made of goatmilk: soft and not very strong in taste. 

Pavé Ocre – a little stinkier than camembert and a tiny bit sharper, but not enough to make a meaningful difference.

Raclette – surprisingly tasty even when not heated up, semi-hard and with a pungent but not unpleasant taste.

Reblochon de Savoie – a soft, moderately stinky cheese with a full, unsharp taste.

Saint-Félicien – a soft creamy cheese similar to Delice Bourgogne. 

Tête de Moine – a little too dull and earthy in taste but very fun to eat because of its unconventional shape.

Tomme de Montagne – A semi-hard cheese without a very distinct flavour.