The art of cutting cheeses

How to cut cheeses

First of all, a fundamental rule: every portion of cheese should contain some of the rind. This will avoid the other tasters from being left out, and also because the taste of the cheese is never always uniform: it gets stronger the closer it is to the rind due to the mulding process on the surface. Discovering the subtleties is part of the pleasure in tasting. This is why you should take great care in always sharing out the rind with the cheese portions.

Small sized cheeses (ex: camembert, Pont l’Evêque...)   Pyramid or coned shaped cheeses (ex: Valencay, Pouligny St Pierre...)   Small cheeses (ex: Cabécou, Crottins...)   Cheeses with a soft pate (ex: brie ou Coulomiers...)   Cheeses with veins of blue mold (ex: Bleus, Roquefort...)   Cheeses in a wooden box (ex: Vacherin ou Epoisses...)   Cheeses with a hard pate (ex: Comte, Ossau Iraty...)   Cylibndrical or long cheeses (ex: Ste Maure, Rouleau de Provence...)

Appropriate instruments

The cheese knife, easily recognisable for its two sharp points at the end of a slightly bent blade. The grater and special knifes will cut cheeses with hard dough into thin slices and very small pieces. The wire butter knife is used to carefully cut cheeses with a fragile texture (Roquefort, bûche de chèvre...). Special instrument used to cut hard cheeses, such as raclette cheese, into thin slices.