SeaFrance Guide To French Cheese
Since SeaFrance Ferries Dover Calais lets travellers from the UK nip over the channel quickly and inexpensively, it goes without saying that we should write a guide to French cheese, which included with French wine is something that must be sampled whenever you visit.
It goes without saying that like wine, cheese to is synonymous with France, largely because there are over 400 different types to choose from, making French cheese the largest selection of chesses in the world.
There are a number of ways one can classify cheese that comes from France, one could do so by region, type of milk used, origin, or fat content.
France though chooses to use its own technique for classification which we thought we would explain here.
Fresh Cheeses
This type of cheese contains a lot of water and is made from cow, sheep or goats milk, and is white in colour and generally not aged cheese. Instead the curd is made by adding a lactic starter to the milk that is used in its making, and the cheese is more often than not either eaten separately or used as part of a recipe.
Soft Cheeses with Natural Rind
This cheese is made from cow’s milk, and are very soft with a white velvety surface. This type of cheese is typically aged for one month, and include some of the best known cheese from France, including Camembert and Brie.
Pressed and Cooked Cheeses
This type of cheese is made under pressure during processing, but before going through the pressure process, the curd is first heated for an hour. The cheese is then matured over a very long period of time. This type of cheese is generally made in France’s mountain regions, and the two most popular kinds are Gruyere and Emmental.
Goat Cheeses
Whilst a few type of goat’s cheese are to be found in other categories, this type of cheese is worthy of possessing its own category, since there are over 100 varieties of goat’s cheese. Goat’s cheese comes in a large variety of shapes and sizes, with the two most famous being Pouligny-Saint-Pierre and Crottin de Chavignol
Blue Cheeses
This type of cheese is easily recognizable because of its blue greenish colour that runs through them, and are typically made using cow’s milk. They are matured for long periods of time, and have an extremely strong flavor very popular the world over. Blue de Bresse and Roquefort are both easily available and are very tasty.
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SeaFrance Ferries Dover Calais Destinations
SeaFrance Ferries Dover Calais lets those who are looking to reach fantastic destinations in France the ability to reach them both inexpensively and quickly, and with so many destinations to choose from, sometimes working out where to visit can be a difficult decision to make.
When you look at the options available in France, you will almost certainly find there is something for everyone. As a result we have chosen what we think are the three best destinations in the country.
After taking a SeaFrance Ferry Dover Calais you can visit everything from historical sites to the most thrilling theme parks which are ideal for the children. Disneyland is no doubt the most famous theme park, which comes complete with a wide variety of both rides, shows, hotels and much more.
Disneyland has a number of hotels strategically located on the property which make ideal accommodation for your stay, or you have the choice of staying somewhere else and visiting the park for the day.
Once inside the park the youngsters will get to see all the familiar characters that Disney has brought the world over the many years, as well as enjoy all the rides that are fun for all ages young and old.
What visit to France though would be complete without a trip to Paris, which is nothing more than a couple hours drive from Calais. Paris is world renowned for being the most romantic city on earth, and sites that are must see include the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe and of course the Eiffel Tower.
Northern France also offers great destinations with many museums and memorials to choose from, with monuments that date back hundreds of years, with many that are tributes to the first and second world wars.
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SeaFrance Guide To The History Of Wine Making
Since SeaFrance Ferries Dover Calais is all about quick trips over to France, and since the country is synonymous with wine making, we thought we would write a guide to the history of wine making.
Experts agree that wine has been around in one form or another for thousands of years. According to the most authoritative sources, the first certified makers of wine surprisingly enough came from Northern Iran, in the Zagros Mountains.
Archaeologist Andre Tchernia, one of the top experts in antique wines says that ”The remains of a yellowish residue deposited on the wall of a Neolithic jar, 7,000 years old, found at Hajji Firuz Tepe, Iran has proven to be a mixture of tartaric acid and resin.”
The evidence of which suggests that Neolithic man drank VIN2.
Whilst it is widely reported that King Solomon used wine to celebrate special occasions, it was the Greeks who made the greatest contribution to Mediterranean viticulture, and hold a long history of such activities in Mediterranean countries.
The Phoenicians were the first to being wine to France when they arrived at the port of Marseilles, probably not by SeaFrance Ferries Dover Calais we think.
All kidding aside, at that time wine was primarily produced from grapes using fermentation to which seawater was added for preservation during the transportation phase. At the destination, fresh water was then added to get rid of the salty taste.
Ancient Egyptians also had a very organized wine making tradition with Osisris. Whilst the Romans had a tradition established under Dionysus and Bacchus, and the Babylonians had a tradition best represented by Gilgamesh. Wine most recently though symbolizes the blood of Christ in the Christian tradition, and over the many thousands of years its use has changed dramatically.
Interestingly, Roman wine was very spicy, and is nothing like the type of wine that is commonly drunk today. The vine culture was first introduced in France by Phocea the Greek, when the Roman colonization took place, Gallic vines were then grown around Beziers and Narbonne, with Beziers never forgetting its title of the wine capital of the nineteenth century.
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Please Note - All Prices Quoted Are Correct at Time of Posting
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