Cheese experimentation

So when I was in Copenhagen I had the perfect opportunity to pick up quite a lot of different cheeses in small amounts. I was very excited and even more excited to get to this point. Starting from the long skinny piece of cheese that is nearest to my camera lens and going clockwise: Pecorino Cheese from Italy, Blue Cheese whereabouts unknown, Camembert from Normandy, France, Coeur d'helene fromage au lait de vache pasteurise, translation ( heart of helene from pasteurized cow's milk), another camembert style obviously coming from France, Petit Tourtain, a camembert style which also comes from France, Fromage le Coq de bruyere, which is also a camembert style coming from France, Gouda cheese from Holland, and lastly a French Brie called "le rustique Jean Verrier. I obviously paired each of the cheeses by themsleves as well with the items I have in the middle of the plate, which are the olive, sun dried tomato and feta cheese mixture I picked up and some peppered salami. First the Pecorino, this one was already my favorite as I love Pecorino cheeses. Here are my notes, like a typical Pecorino it has a nice mealy fulfilling taste, great by itself, paired with wine or with really anything else you try. The salami and pecorino offered a great taste together and made a nice mixture with both the green olives and feta cheese. Next is the Blue Cheese, this one I was a little worried about because I could smell it the rest of the day after I purchased it, even though it was wrapped up. On the train it stunk up the whole cart we were in. However when I took my first bite I was extremely surprised. Creamy, not to powerfully overwhelming, definitely one of the best blue's I have ever had. However when it comes to pairing things didn't turn out to well, it did not pair well with the salami. The green olive and sun dried tomato it was ok. The Normandy Camembert is next, which right off the bat was a little thick to the touch, creamy in the mouth. A light mold taste that was good however it smelled heavily of mold and the after taste almost hit you with a bit of a mold taste as well. When it was paired with the salami it was pretty good, a nice creaminess and paired really well with the sun dried tomato. Next is Helene's cow milk cheese, it had a thick, sturdy body to the touch, no mold smell but there was a bit of a foot smell. Taste is great, very light, there was a bit of mold in the taste as well, but also light. When paired with the salami it was good, I really could taste the pepper in the meat. Did not pair well with the either of the olives and when paired with the tomato I got mostly a mold taste. The Petit Tourtain is next, to the eye it had a light orange outside and very light mold smell. Creamy though with a small sourness, light mold and the feeling was a bit squishy to the touch. When paired with the olives it wasn't all that great and the salami seemed to be ok. Next is the Chicken camembert, I call it this because there is a picture of a chicken on the box. It had as well a small mold smell and moldy taste a little intense in the after taste though. The salami proved to be interesting, I got an odd mixture of mold and meat taste and didn't pair well with the olives. The Dutch gouda was really good, creamy, definitely a nice gouda cheese. It paired really well with everything, the meat was a great combination. The sun dried tomato made for a great sweet creamy combination and the black olive taste great with the cheese. The Brie had a very intense taste like broccoli, but good, a little bit of a mold taste to it. When paired with the meat it actually went well, the mold and pepper blended nicely however not so good with the black olive or with sun dried tomato.

I definitely enjoyed this one and as I was going through it some other things that I knew would have been good to pair with them as well was honey, apples and bell pepper and obviously basil. Those are some other things that I will try with them later.