Perail de Brebis

TAST­ING NOTES FROM THE CURATOR

This Avey­ron soft cheese has an earthy aro­ma, and a pale-yel­low color.

With a short mat­u­ra­tion peri­od, and made with ewe’s milk, the Perail’s pâté is creamy and smooth, and exudes strong, full fla­vors. It ripens in wood­en molds because it becomes run­ny at room temperature.

PREPA­RA­TION AND PAIRINGS

Because it’s a very soft, some­times run­ny, cheese, it makes it per­fect for spread­ing on snap­py crack­ers on your cheese board. 

Ele­vate your scram­bled eggs with some Perail, or add it to your waf­fles and pan­cakes. Or smear it onto your bagels and toast.

Pair with a crisp white wine, or a rosé. 

THE LADY IN THE GROTTO

Avey­ron is a scenic three-hour car ride away from anoth­er area in the Midi-Pyrénées: Lour­des. This place is famous in Catholic lore.

It was on the 11^th of Feb­ru­ary in 1858 that a lady appeared to 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous as she was wad­ing in the riv­er by the grot­to of Mass­a­bielle. Bernadette said the lady wore a white dress, with a blue gir­dle, and two yel­low ros­es on her feet. She was hold­ing a rosary and a daz­zling light came from the dark alcove behind her.

After more of their inter­ac­tions, she told Bernadette that she was the Immac­u­late Con­cep­cion. This sto­ry has become one of the most pop­u­lar Mar­i­an sto­ries, and Lour­des enter­tains mil­lions of peo­ple who take on pil­grim­ages to the grotto.

Storage Instructions

Cheeses (except brined ones in jars) should be stored in the crisper or the but­ter draw­er of a refrig­er­a­tor, not on the shelves them­selves. This is to help reg­u­late their tem­per­a­ture and humid­i­ty lev­els — and pre­vents the for­ma­tion of mold. Once opened, they should not be kept in their orig­i­nal pack­ag­ing. Soft cheeses with del­i­cate rinds need to breathe, so they are best placed in glass con­tain­ers lined with paper tow­els to absorb extra mois­ture. Leave the lid open a tiny bit for air to cir­cu­late and don’t for­get to write up a label with the date you first opened the pack­age. Kind­ly pay atten­tion to the best before date label when you receive your cheese. Con­sume pri­or to date indicated.