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Champagne-Ardenne
Barberey, troyen cendré, fromage de Troyes: three names for the same farmhouse cheese, low in fat and matured for a month in wood ash.
Bloomy-rind cheese from Champagne-Ardenne.
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Barberey, troyen cendré, fromage de Troyes: these three names once referred to the everyday cheese made on farms in the countryside around Troyes, in Aube, and none of them is a protected designation.
The first of these names comes from a commune near Troyes, Barberey-Saint-Sulpice.
A directory of restaurants and inns in Aube notes that "Fromage de Troyes, better known under the name of Barberey or Troyen cendré, is also one of the culinary specialities" of the town, alongside andouillette.
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Barberey is a low-fat cheese made from skimmed cow's milk, with a soft paste and a natural rind.
Wikipedia describes it as similar to Rocroi cheese.
Wikipedia lists Barberey among extinct French cheeses and states that it is no longer produced.
An online cheesemonger says so too: this cheese "is no longer produced".
Yet the directory of tables in Aube presents it, in the present tense, as a speciality of Troyes. Sources therefore do not agree on whether it is still made today.
Appearance
A flat cylinder 11 cm in diameter and 2.5 cm thick, weighing around 250 g, regular in shape and with a dry surface; its natural rind comes from maturation in wood ash.
Aroma
No strong odour, with a hint of mould.
Taste
A flavour described as "slightly saponified to pungent", somewhat reminiscent of camembert.
Texture
A soft paste, still supple to the touch.
Skimmed cow's milk, yielding a low-fat cheese.
The cheese is then matured for a month in wood ash.
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To recognise a well-chosen Barberey, maison Androuet looks for a regular shape, a dry surface, and a paste that is still supple to the touch, noting that it has no strong odour. Its flavour, slightly saponified to pungent, makes it somewhat reminiscent of camembert.
Barberey does not hold any protected designation.
No producer is listed for this product yet.