A large, slab-shaped, smooth cheese made with cow’s milk. It has an ochre yellow rind and is made in Brittany. This piquant cheese is at its best from May to February.
A thick disc of firm, semihard cheese made with cow’s milk. It has a supple yellow paste and a brine washed rind. It has been made since 1890 at the monastery on the hill of Mont-des-Cats, near Godewaersvelde, north west of Lille in Flanders. This cheese is eaten all year round and is made with raw milk and contains 45-50% fat (dry). The curds are uncooked and pressed and it is rather similar to Port-Salut. It may be found in the following dimensions: 25 cm (10") diameter x 4 cm (1½"), weighing 2 kg (4½ lbs). Affinage is usually at least one month. It is at its best with red Graves and is sometimes eaten as a breakfast cheese with coffee because of its relatively mild flavour. In 1826 some of the nuns from the Abbaye du Port-du-Salut came to the Abbaye du Mont-des-Cats bringing with them the recipe of Port-Salut. This cheese is the result - a typical trappiste cheese.
This cheese used to be made at the Abbaye d'Igny but the nuns turned to making chocolates called bouchons de Champagne, biscuits and so on. The cheese was much more work and was a wheel of mild, semisoft cheese made with cow’s milk. It had a pressed, uncooked paste, washed rind and was made with raw milk, containing 40-45% fat (dry). It weighed 1.3 kg (2½ lb). Affinage was around two months in damp cellars.
Yellow sweet clover, bird's foot trefoil. A leguminous plant the leaves and flowers of which, when dried, have a pleasant aroma. This delicate herb is high in carotene and vitamin C. In order to preserve its fragrance, it should never be more than briefly parboiled. Can be used in marinades, for flavouring sausages, in salads, custard dishes and clear soups to add aroma. It can be used to stuff rabbit. In Switzerland, it is used to make herbal tea. Some cheeses, notably the German cow’s milk Schabzieger and curd cheese, Gruyère and green cheese are flavoured with the yellow flowers.
Silver ear fungus. A translucent white jelly fungus that grows on trees, used in Chinese cuisine.
Silver ear fungus. A translucent white jelly fungus that grows on trees, used in Chinese cuisine.
