Flavor is of the utmost importance when it comes to tasting cheese, as are texture and smell. What's the point of a cheese if it doesn't taste good, or doesn't lend a pleasant sensation as it skates across your tongue? Many cheese folks get lost in these traits, forgetting that there's a fourth sense that plays into the overall cheese experience: sight.
We eat with our eyes first. Seeing a food's color, shape, and design play a significant roll in the way we experience everything else about the dish. Cheese is no different. Some cheeses are downright beautiful in their aesthetic, going beyond tantalizing us with what we believe will taste good and sate our senses. They are visual works of art.
Visual drama is what first attracted me to Le Jeune Autize; it reminded me of a marble slab, with its black, cinematic vein of ash creeping through the lily-white flesh. Fashioned similarly to Morbier, only with goat's milk, Le Jeune Autize batted its eyelashes at me from across the room, its kohl eyeliner promising mystery behind those amazing contours.
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