Saint-Félicien is a deliciously creamy soft cow’s-milk cheese. The nearest mass-market touchstone is a really creamy Brie, and this cheese belongs to the same soft-ripened family, but that doesn’t do justice to its excellent subtle flavour. To eat a Saint-Félicien is to decadently wallow in a king-size bed of silky-soft creaminess, to drift idle and carefree in a limpid lagoon of high-fat bovine lactation.

Unlike far feistier, washed-rind, soft cheeses like Epoisses or Langres, Saint-Félicien has a relatively mild flavour and a much less threatening aroma. The package describes it as “creamy, nutty and mellow”; of these the first is most apposite. Those seeking the intensely nutty flavours of Gouda or similar will be disappointed: this is a subtle-tasting, creamy cheese whose charm lies in its indulgent texture and flavour rather than any overbearing taste. An outer rind of white-blooming mould yields to soft, crumbly melt-in-the-mouth innards.

Eating this cheese on its own is a moderately enjoyable experience, but it’s hard to justify the substantial impact on arterial health and general life expectancy that mindlessly chomping down pert little wedges of this glorious creaminess has. This cheese is designed for spreading and will pair well with most milder substrates. I tried it on a few different savoury crackers , as well as fairly thinly spread on bread, and it matched well with all of these.

This is a rich, indulgent treat of a cheese, which would bring a dash of novelty to the slot on a cheeseboard typically occupied by a generic Brie. For a bit more flavour in a soft cheese something like Epoisses is worth a consideration, but likely to be much more divisive. Few would object to the creamy delicious of Saint-Félicien.

For its mild but ultra-creamy taste, and role as a high-quality spreadable cheese, I rate Saint-Félicien 7.5 out of 10

Tags: ,

Leave a Reply