Cheese is one of France’s most prized contributions to gastronomy. Let's pick 6 favorites from more than 1,500 options for your next cheese board.

How can you govern a country that has 246 varieties of cheese? - President Charles de Gaulle, 1962     Actually, there are more than 1,500 different varieties of cheese if you ask a French dairy farmer. While de Gaulle poses a thoughtful question, today's Weekly Voilà has little to do with politics and more to do with guidance on how to select from such an endless list of cheese possibilities. Fromage is certainly one of France's most prized contributions to gastronomy. You cannot make a trip to France without finding yourself in front of cases of all shapes and manner of cheese. Sure - there's the easy to spot Brie or Roquefort. But what about the other 1,498 options? Where do you begin to make your selection for the important trio of cheese, bread, and wine that is the mainstay of the French diet? I must confess that my sampling of French cheese is small. Tiny even. Maybe I've tasted 50 different varieties? And I tend to go mild. I'm not fond of the "stinky" cheese that should only be purchased in winter and stored outside, saving the refrigerator from smelling for weeks. Still, I do have my favorites. Here are a few suggestions for your next cheese board: We had four goats on our farm in Hawaii. Here's me with Brie. She, herself, was an acquired taste - read feisty with horns that would get any stranger's attention. But her milk was sweet. We milked by hand on a stand that Tim made. She loved the opportunity to jump up on the platform because she knew her favorite combination of sweet oats and goodies were waiting for her. That milk was the best.  Not a hint of "goat." It was with that fresh milk, a culture I had shipped from France, and herbs from the garden that we prepared our "secret" cheese shared only with friends. Raw milk. Not allowed to sell in Hawaii. I do miss my babes.  #1 From Comté to Cantal It's difficult for me to pick between these two types of cheese based on their flavor. Both are made with cow's milk. Both are nutty and dry. Think sweet cheese curds compacted together. They almost squeak in the month. However, Comté comes from the Jura mountains near to the Swiss border and Cantal comes from the mountaintops of the Auvergne just out my back door. We like to support the local farmers. Cantal is not a delicately-shaped cheese. At the market, you'll find huge chunks of various sizes of very rustic-looking slabs. Few cheese aficionados will have this variety on their favorites list. But I adore the simplicity of flavor atop a slice of fresh, country bread and accompanied by a glass of local red wine. This is an easy, go-to cheese option. #2 Chaource How to pick a favorite cheese? Oh, la vache! That is a very difficult question. Yet, if you backed me into a corner at a dinner party and demanded that I whisper something in your ear, I might say Chaource.  Another cheese made from cow's milk but this time we're visiting the village of Chaource in the Champagne-Ardenne region. Think Brie but the taste is even more soft and creamy. No - it's buttery. It is surrounded by a textural, white rind that could easily grow penicillin at a moment's notice. Its full-fat cream is added to the curds during production resulting in a cheese that is decidedly sumptuous in both texture and taste. The more the cheese ages, the more buttery it becomes. Need I say more? #3 Oussau-Iraty Cheese can be made from raw sheep's milk as well. This selection comes from the northern Basque region in the Pyrénées. It is the category of "pressed" cheese and is uncooked and aged for 3 months. There is a bit of "funk" to its flavor. It's both mild and complex. Sweet and nutty. It melts beautifully so you can grate it over your favorite soup or pasta. It's one of only two sheep's milk cheeses (the other is Roquefort) with AOC designation (Appellation d'origine contrôlée), whereby a product is recognized for its unique qualities and is protected by the French government. #4 Morbier du Livradois You're not going to find a pungent Roquefort on my list. I'm not a big blue cheese fan. That being said,  I do have a suggestion that might come across as strong as its aroma greets you but if you allow the cheese to breathe a bit, it tastes quite mild. Made with raw cow's milk, I discovered Morbier du Livradois while visiting a wonderful fromagerier or cheese shop in Paris. You can't miss the place. You'll smell it as soon as you turn onto the Rue Cler.  Feeling adventuresome, I asked the fromager what he would recommend that was mild but complex. He introduced me to a variety of Montboissié cheese. Wow. Divine. He carved a sample for me to taste off an enormous 14-pound wheel and began to tell me its origin. We are again in the Jura mountains but nestled into one of its deep valleys. The story goes that in the 19th century, Comté makers decided to make a cheese from the day's leftover curd for their own consumption. They sprinkled the curd with ash to keep the cheese from drying out overnight. The next morning, new curds were laid on top of the thin layer of ash and the wheel of cheese pressed and washed with brine to form a protective rind. Today, Montboissié cheese is made from a single milking and the edible vegetable ash is added for purely decorative purposes. You'll find Morbier, the word means "small market town," produced in many regions of France. Morbier du Livradois, my favorite probably because of the memory attached to it, comes from the Auvergne region in central France. This is the land of rich farm country, rolling hills, and huge forests. An ancient place of extinct volcanoes and sweeping glacier lakes. In the wilds of the Livradois, you'll find medieval villages, and flora and fauna not found in other parts of Europe. All these wonderful grasses and wildflowers are what the cows graze upon on the high plateaus. It makes a difference in their milk and of course, their cheese. I promise to take you to Auvergne in a future Weekly Voilà. Fromage. C'est une tuerie! It's to die for! #5 Rocamadour It's almost upon us - fromages de chèvre. Every spring is goat cheese season. Between November and March, when the goats are pregnant and don't naturally produce milk, many farmers stop cheese production to respect the natural cycle. France has plenty of varieties of goat cheese from which to choose. But since I live in the region of Quercy, I'm partial to Rocamadour. It is a very small, flat, round, white cheese that is usually sold very young - just 2 weeks of aging. This cuts down on its "tang." Customarily, you serve it at the end of a meal with little toasts. Shhhhhh . . . I often drizzle a bit of local lavender honey over the top. It could very well be a faux pas but it's tasty. #6 Mimolette I have to include one more favorite variety of cheese and add a bit of history. King Louis XIV of Versailles fame was looking for a native French cheese to replace the very popular but foreign Edam. So a hard cheese made from cow's milk was created and colored with carrot juice to give it a very distinct orange hue. It is called Mimolette, meaning "semi-soft," and refers to the rind when young. It becomes harder and harder as it ages. I enjoy all the flavors along the way. Young, Mimolette tastes a bit of Parmesan. But the vieille or old cheese works wonderfully as a substitute for a strong cheddar. Lovely with a slice of apple. And get this: The rind becomes grey due to cheese mites intentionally introduced to add flavor by their action on the surface of the cheese. Yeah - I don't eat the rind. That falls under the category of "That's a French Thing." And did you know that real Mimolette is banned in the United States? It's considered a "dangerous" substance. [Insert major eye roll here.] Now . . . throw away all my suggestions. The best way to shop for cheese in France is to pop into a small establishment or attend the local market sans list and look - or more likely - smell around. Pay attention. What does the individual before you purchase? Eavesdrop on conversations and see what the proprietor is recommending. Brush up on a phrase or two and ask the fromager, "Que recommendez-vous pour la sélection d'aujourd'hui?" Be ready for a lot of information on what is ripest, place of origin, type of milk and fat content, and how each may pair with local wines. There will be an extensive inquiry as to what you might be eating for your next meal. Rest assured, I have never met a cheesemonger who steered me wrong. Just go with it. When you bring your delicious purchases home, remember that plastic wrap is the enemy. Always use the waxed paper that comes with the cheese to reseal and store the leftovers -  if there are any - in the crisper bin of your refrigerator. Where to put that broccoli? Oh - just anywhere you find a place. Remember: French cheese takes precedence over all other items in the fridge. By the by, did Charles de Gaulle have a favorite French cheese out of all those varieties? He did. He was a big champion of Mimolette. Might have something to do with a Sun King complex ;)   Cheese, bread, green salad, and wine. Make a simple meal this weekend. À bientôt, Karen 😋🧀🥖🍷🇫🇷 If you know anyone who would enjoy a bit of French culture in their inbox each week, please feel free to share this email. Just click here. Merci beaucoup!