A creamy goat cheese coated with sweet paprika, shallots and garlic, Fleur Soleil is my new summer crush. With a bottle of rosé, a fresh baguette and a salad, there’s lunch. Or dinner. Or a picnic. I could eat this dreamy cheese all day long. The texture is almost fluffy, and the seasoning is bold but not overdone. Just in time to pair with summer tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant and peppers.
From France’s Périgord region, this impeccable fresh goat cheese is a sibling to the better-known Fleur Verte (“green flower”). Both are 5.5-pound wheels with a scalloped perimeter—intended to suggest a flower petal—and external seasoning. With its coat of dried tarragon, thyme and pink peppercorns, Fleur Verte smells like a hillside in Provençe. Fleur Soleil is more in your face—in a good way—with aromas of garlic, onion, mustard seed, black pepper and sweet pimiento.
My guess is that Fleur Soleil and its herbal sister are shipped when they’re only a couple of weeks old, if that. They taste so fresh and feel so light. They spread smoothly and easily. If you think of goat cheese as dense and chalky, or too tart, or too goaty in aroma, you need to try Fleur Soleil. It is none of those things.
The producer is Chèvrefeuille, a 40-year-old creamery that specializes in goat cheese. Their expertise is apparent; this velvety cheese tastes almost like it has cream added. (It doesn’t.) A chilled rosé, Sancerre or other steely white wine is what I want to drink with it.
Melt a garlicky slice of Fleur Soleil in scrambled eggs or an omelet. Use it as a spread on a focaccia sandwich with sliced tomatoes or roasted vegetables, especially roasted peppers. Melt it into a cream sauce for fresh pasta.
Now for the bad news: We need to advocate for this lovely cheese and get more retailers to carry it. “Not enough mongers know about it,” replied a distributor’s sales rep when I asked her why so few stores stocked Fleur Soleil. (I often see Fleur Verte at Whole Foods.) So ask for it. World’s Best Cheese, a major national distributor, offers it, as does Zuercher, a Midwest distributor. The Zuercher rep told me more stores order it in the fourth quarter, which is peculiar for a fresh cheese named after sunshine. Now is the time to enjoy this beauty so let’s get some more stores on board.
In the meantime, look for it at A Beautiful Rind (Chicago); Cheese Store of Beverly Hills; Kowalski’s Markets (Minneapolis/St. Paul); Oliver’s Markets (multiple Northern CA locations); Sickles Market (two NJ locations); Sonoma Cheese Factory (Sonoma, CA) and Surdyks (Minneapolis).