Regretfully, this will be my last weekly article for Apartment Therapy. Though I have loved writing for The Kitchen, additional responsibilities for my job at Cobblestone Foods have made writing a weekly cheese article simply impossible. I will continue to answer your fromage-related questions at patrick@apartmenttherapy.com. In order to commemorate my last article, I’m deviating from the normal cheese review to devote time to two subjects I have been meaning to writing about: Parisian fromageries and cheese literature.

It is a well-known fact that Paris is full of fromageries. It could even be called the cheese capital, except for the fact that most shops carry almost exclusively French cheeses. Fromageries are abundant, but not all are created the same.

In preparing these weekly articles, I have a small arsenal of cheese books at my disposal. Though the internet helps, of course, my first stop is always the books. As much info as Wikipedia has, I trust Max McCalman a whole lot more. Here’s a list of my favorites:

Name: Grise des Volcans
Producer: Pascal Bellevaire (Machecoul, France)
Milk: Raw Cow's Milk
Age: 3 months
Price: $19.50-29.00/lb

In the past, I’ve shined the spotlight on superstar affineurs Herve Mons and Rolf Beeler. Sadly, I’ve neglected another excellent affineur out there, one who only recently came to my attention. That affineur is Pascal Bellevaire. Bellevaire has been in the milk business in one way or another since he was a young boy, working at his family’s dairy. Today, he produces a wide variety of cheeses and other milk products, all from raw milk. If this week’s cheese, Grise des Volcans, is any indication, I’m already hungry to try everything else he has to offer.

Name: Leonora
Producer: Various (Leon, Spain)
Milk: Pasteurized Goat's Milk
Age: 3 months
Price: $16.00-23.50/lb.

I am about to say something that’s slightly heretical, but please bear with me. When it comes to lightly aged goat cheeses, the Loire Valley has something to worry about. With new cheeses like Monte Enebro, Pau St. Mateo and now this week’s cheese, Leonora, Spain is ready to give France a run for its money.

Name: Mountain Top Bleu
Producer: Firefly Farms (Bittinger, MD)
Milk: Pasteurized Goat's Milk
Age: 5-8 wks.
Price: $13.00-15.00/ea.

As anyone who has tasted an alpine cheese, such as gruyere, can attest, much like rough terrain can produce fine wines, high altitudes are the source of many fine cheeses. Located in Maryland’s Allegheny Plateau, Firefly Farms represents the cooperative effort of Mike Koch and Pablo Solanet, who founded the farm back in 2000. They were later joined by neighbors Ron and Beth Brenneman, who together make up the core of Firefly Farms.

Name: Tronchon
Producer: Various (Tronchon, Spain)
Milk: Raw/Pasteurized Raw Cow's, Goat's & Sheep's Milk
Age: 2 months+
Price: $11.99-$23.00

Few cheeses are as readily identifiable at Spain’s Tronchon. Produced in a small village of the same name, Tronchon has a distinct crater in the center and a raised ring around the outside, giving it the look of a very large doughnut whose center has not been completely removed. The origin of this shape are a bit mysterious, but cheesemakers continue to use the same traditional molds that have been used for generations.

Name: Toussaint
Producer: Sprout Creek Farm (Poughkeepsie, New York)
Milk: Raw Cow
Age: 3 months
Price: $19.50-$25.98

After a short bout of French-themed tunnel vision, I am happy to be back covering the wealth of cheeses the rest of the world has to offer. When deciding upon a cheese, I thought there would be no better place to pick up this quest than a few hours from my Brooklyn home, at Sprout Creek Farm in Poughkeepsie, where they produce many wonderful cheeses, including this week’s selection, Toussaint.

Name: Tomme de Chevre de la Valle D’Aspes
Producer: Various (Pyrenees Mountains, France)
Milk: Raw Goat
Age: 2+ months
Price: €25,00/kilo

With a name like Tomme de Chevre de la Valle D’Aspes, what more needs to be said? The name is so long it says it all. What we have here is a small wheel of goat’s cheese produced in Valle D’Aspes, also known as the Aspe Valley, located in the French Pyrenees. It’s worth noting that not all examples of Tomme de Chevre come from this region. They are not even all made from raw milk (just the good ones). In fact, the Rhone-Alps area is also a major producer, as well as a bit from Corsica. These areas have one thing in common; they are all mountainous, perfect for producing this rich cheese.

Name: Tomme de Lozère
Producer: Various (Lozère, France)
Milk: Raw Sheep
Age: 4-6 months
Price: €18,00/kilo

In America, the mantra of “buy local” is one we’re just recently rediscovering. In France, however, it continues to be a way of life as it has been for generations. In fact, all fruit stands, no matter how small, invariably list the location where every item is from as a matter of course. This way, when choosing cheeses to bring home, rather than cart back famous cheeses made far from the area of the south of France where we were staying, I opted to “buy local" and stick to cheeses I hadn’t seen back in the U.S.

Name: Muracciole / Le Petit Nîmois
Producer: Various (France)
Milk: Raw Sheep / Raw Goat
Age: 1-2 months / 2 weeks+
Price: €36,08/kilo / €4,60 ea.

From Paris, France to Brooklyn, New York, I am back in my borough, full of fromage and ready to regale you with the information I gleaned during my 10 days wandering the fromageries of France. This week, I am going for a double-header: two cheeses in one article. Expect the French celebration to continue in the weeks to come, with more cheese reviews as well as reviews of my favorite Parisian fromageries. This week I’ll be covering two very different cheeses: Muracciole and Le Petit Nîmois.