Cone de Port Aubry not only tastes fantastic but looks wonderful too, with its distinctive conical shape unique among cheeses. Its cone-like appearance was, in fact, accidental – when Hervé Mons, one of France’s most talented cheese affineurs, was making it for the first time he needed something to drain the curd, so used his wife’s brassiere as a mould.
A raw goat’s milk cheese produced near Selles-sur-Cher, it has a crumbly, dense texture and complex flavours incorporating melted butter, mushrooms and hazelnuts. The cheese is aged for around three months on straw mats in caves until dry, giving it a natural mould rind and a firm interior.
A favourite of Michel’s, he bought some Cone de Port Aubry as a Christmas gift for his wife.