Mimolette Cheese (1970)

[J. Eulenberg]

I've eaten mimolette cheese, both in Paris and in Seattle.  I can assure
you that in either place was it soft on the outside and hard on the
inside.  It is a cheddar-like cheese, about the color of a cantaloupe,
which, with its rind, it resembles a great deal in appearance.  The major
problem for me with those that I have purchased is that the cheese tends
to start out fairly hard, and gets harder, making it very hard to grate.

I had it served on salad in northern France, where I first encountered it
-- greens, corn, and a generous amount of mimolette.  Called a mimolette
salad.  Here the cheese seemed softer, as if it had been easier to grate
(a small sliver, not from the large holes on the grater), and tasted
exactly like a nice mild cheddar.  I consider my palate fairly capable, so
this comment should not be taken lightly -- as in, "she can't discern
subtleties."

Specialty cheese shops carry it, but you often have to ask them to stock
it.

Julia Niebuhr Eulenberg <eulenbrg at u.washington.edu>