France has been making distinctively French cheeses for as long as it had been fermenting its celebrated wines. Many have been around since way before the Middle Ages, and people are still happily eating them to this day.

French cheeses are divided into eight families, categorized according to their texture or appearance.

So let's begin our journey to know more about them! Some of these cheeses can be found in selected supermarkets and specialities stores.

Invented by Trappist Monks to enhance their otherwise rather meagre diet on fast days, these cheese are found across Europe, but mainly in France and Belgium. Washed rind cheeses are periodically bathed in saltwater brine as they age, hence producing a rather robust cheese and it encourages the development of orange, sticky bacteria that help to break down the curd from the outside, gradually becoming an integral part of the interior, rather than just a skin. Washed rind cheeses can be soft, semi-hard or hard.
Examples: Munster, Epoisses, Pont-L'Evêque.

France produces a great number of goat's milk cheeses, especially in the Loire Valley and Poitou, where goats are said to have been brought by the moors in the 8th century. Chèvre is a generic term for French goat cheese. It comes in all shapes and sizes but the most popular form is the chèvre log. The center is very white and it has a soft, slightly granular texture. The flavour is usually very mild and slightly salted, although herb-flavoured chèvres are widely available.
Examples: Chabichou du Poitou, Chabis, Pouligny-Saint-Pierre.

The manufacturing of processed cheese involves combining sliced cheese, hard cheese and / or cream cheese with the addition of melting salt and dairy ingredients, such as emulsifiers to increase smoothness or melting properties Dyes are also added to create colouring and preservatives to lengthen shelf life. It is offered as a natural flavour or with added ingredients such as walnuts, ham, grapes. Unlike natural cheeses that may have a distinct flavour or texture, processed cheeses are smooth or spreadable, odourless, and typically mild or very bland in taste.

Blue cheese or often spelled as Bleu cheese is a general classification of cow's milk, goat's milk, or sheep's milk with a blue or blue-green mould. The blue mould is a strain of penicillium that is added to the milk before the rennet is added either in liquid or powder form. The characteristic flavour of blue cheese tends to be sharp and abit salty. The smell of this food is pungent, even compared to other cheeses. They can be eaten by themselves or can be crumbled or melted over foods.
Examples: Bleu D'Auvergne, Bleu Des Causses, Bleu De Costaros.

Semi-hard cheeses have 40-50 percent water. You can spot them as sliceable cheeses with chewy, relatively firm textures. Their semi-hard texture makes this family of French cheeses more durable out in our warm weather. Unlike soft cheeses, they are not about to melt too quickly, and are therefore quite portable and easy to use. All these factors, plus the large variety of styles, make them particularly versatile.
Examples: Cantal, Morbier.

To make a hard cheese the curd must be cut more finely, the smaller the pieces, the more whey will be lost from the curd. The curds are then gently heated in a vat to force out more moisture before the whey is drained off. Hard cheeses are user-friendly. Just keep in mind to keep the cut surfaces of hard cheese tightly covered with foil or clear film to prevent it from absorbing any taints from the fridge.
Examples: Béaufort, Comté, Emmental Grand Cru.

Soft cheeses are one of the most popular. They are generally soft, runny and rich in texture, often covered in a rind of white mould. Soft cheeses with a long shelf life would have been stabilised to prevent it from getting runny, so will be sweeter, more buttery and elastic rather than runny.
Examples: Camembert, Brie, Chaource.

One of the first cheeses made by man, fresh cheese (Fromage frais) is simply milk that has been coagulated using a bacteria culture rather than rennet. Fresh cheese are soft and spreadable, with a mild taste and should be eaten soon after production and the consume-by date must be clearly indicated.
Examples: Chèvre frais, Fromage blanc, Fontainebleau.