Cremeux des Citeaux
France
A triple-crème cow’s milk cheese featuring an incredibly creamy, thick consistency, this buttery beauty has a bouquet of toasted nuts and a delightful silkiness in the mouth.
Put a triple-cream cheese on a tray with three or four other selections, and the triple cream will vanish first. Triple-cream cheeses seduce us with their richness and silkiness, even if they rarely have much more to offer.
Crémeux des Cîteaux, a French triple cream, sports a pristine bloomy rind and a luscious, spreadable ivory interior that smells like clotted cream.
To reach the minimum of 75% (dry) fat content required for the triple-cream designation, the cheesemaker has supplemented the cow's milk with cream or creme fraiche. Other than that, the procedure resembles the recipe for Brie.
The curd is cut into large pieces, transferred to perforated molds with a large ladle, drained, flipped out of the molds, salted and matured until the rind develops. Cheeses made in this style are usually out the door within two to three weeks.
Crémeux des Cîteaux is produced at a small creamery in the Burgundy region that specializes in Brillat-Savarin. Rodolph Le Meunier, one of France's most respected affineurs (cheese agers), finishes the cheeses in his aging facility near Tours. Le Meunier says that the extra aging time that he provides helps concentrate the taste and develop a creamier texture.
We have paired this Crémeux des Cîteaux with our Elate Grange Cuvee, a Shiraz, Cabernet and Grenache blend which will cut the richness of the cheese.
| Milk | Cow |
|---|---|
| Texture | Semi-Soft |
| Country | France |
| Fat | 75% |
| Pronunciation | crem-er-de-sit-to |
