Brin d’Amour Cheese

Written by: Andrea J. Bartholomew on September 30, 2012.

Brin d’Amour Cheese (Fleur du Maquis)

Brin d’Amour cheese is a French raw sheep’s milk cheese from Corsica, and is also known as Fleur du Maquis (the Flower of the Maquis). There are many translations for Brin d’Amour such as “sprig of love” or “breath of love” which seem to have been inspired by its romantically aromatic coating of dried herbs. Rosemary, thyme, savory, coriander, juniper berries and sometimes a bird’s eye chili pepper encrust this mild and creamy cheese, reflecting the Corsican terrain where the sheep graze. Brin d’Amour’s tangy flavor gets more concentrated the longer it ages, which isn’t very long – between 2 weeks to 2 or 3 months.

Some wine-pairing suggestions are Riesling, Albarino or Côtes-de-Provence (according to Fromages.com), and Di Bruno Brothers in Philadelphia recommends Dogfish Head Raison d’Être as a beer pairing. High-alcohol yet herby Gin (juniper berries) and Vermouth are kindred spirits to this fragrant cheese, which oddly enough also makes a Martini an excellent match.

Brin d’Amour Cheese (Fleur du Maquis)

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This entry was posted on Sunday, September 30th, 2012 at 11:11 am. It is filed under Cheese and tagged with brin d'amour, cheese, corsica, fleur du maquis, france, french, raw milk, sheep, sheep's milk, unpasteurized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.