The thin straw inside is Saint Maur de Touraine cheese.

Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine (French: Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine) - this soft goat cheese is practically the most popular dairy product in France. Its shape is more reminiscent of a roll - it is a kind of cylinder, the diameter of which is from 3 to 5 centimeters, and the length is 15-16 centimeters. The weight of the Saint Maur head is also small, only 250-300 grams.

Its cheese mass is usually white. On the outside it is covered with a crust of gray-blue mold. In addition to this, cheesemakers sometimes sprinkle the head with ash, which makes the crust darker.

This French delicacy has a curious feature - it is a thin straw that runs along the entire cheese cylinder. Its purpose is to maintain the correct shape and for ventilation during the ripening process. The outer mold crust wrinkles over time, so if you buy a more mature product, the shape of the cylinder will be slightly wrinkled.

It usually matures in about 5-6 weeks. During this time, the color changes to gray-blue and fluffy mold appears - a sign of complete readiness and one hundred percent ripening. Saint Maur has a cross between sour and salty tastes. It also has an interesting feature - a certain taste of walnuts. It smells like natural goat milk, and over time the smell becomes more pungent. Its fat content is 45%, which makes it difficult for bodybuilders to consume this cheese, since bodybuilders need to select less fatty foods for their diet.

The best time to collect milk and produce goat cheese is during the warm months: from April to October. The grass in the meadows is in its juice, and therefore the product turns out to be the most delicious and rich in microelements and vitamins.

Saint Maur de Touraine cheese is perfect as an ingredient, and not only in French dishes. It is ideal as a snack both at the beginning of the evening and in its final phase. The French melt pieces of this cheese in the oven along with bread and eat them as breakfast. It also goes well with vegetables, olives or honey. And as a wine complement to it, we can recommend light white wines, preferably dry, or young Chinon.