Saint-Marcellin IGP

TAST­ING NOTES FROM THE CURATOR

Creamy good­ness in a pot — that is one way to describe Saint-Mar­cellin. When young, it is a gen­tle cheese with a creamy tex­ture that can vary from firm to run­ny, a faint mush­room-like aro­ma, and a mild salty fla­vor. As it ripens, the rind becomes beige and pow­dery, and gains an intense­ly nut­ty and fruity fla­vor with a hint of yeast. Because these small discs of cheese have such a frag­ile rind, they’re often packed in small ter­ra­cot­ta pots for protection. 

PREPA­RA­TION OR PAIRINGS

In its lit­tle pot, this cheese makes a love­ly addi­tion to any cheese board. Its earth­i­ness pairs well with crisp, tart fruits like apples, per­sim­mons, and can­taloup. It spreads eas­i­ly on both crusty bread and crack­ers. In Lyon, at the heart of the Rhône-Alpes, this cheese is often found both in sal­ads to start the meal and in the dessert cheese sec­tion of the menu. The ter­ra­cot­ta pot makes it ide­al for a light warm­ing in the oven too.

This cheese pairs well with Span­ish red wines like the Gigon­da, a nice Pinot Noir, or even a sparkling wine. Beer lovers will also be able to enjoy it with a hard apple or pear cider. 

FIT FOR A DAUPHIN

Back in the 15^th cen­tu­ry, it’s said that Louis XI, when he was just the Dauphin and not the king, became sep­a­rat­ed from his hunt­ing par­ty on an excur­sion to the Rhône-Alpes. He’s said to have been con­front­ed by a large bear and had to be res­cued by local woods­men near the com­mune of Saint-Mar­cellin. They served the Dauphin some of the local cheese while wait­ing for his hunt­ing par­ty to find him and, in return, he helped pop­u­lar­ize the cheese! 

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. Your cheese will be fine for up to one month.