Livarot

Livarot

What it is

Five bands of sedge are wrapped round it, originally to stop it slumping on the road to market, and five stripes is the rank of a colonel — the nickname stuck. Underneath them is a washed rind that turns frankly ammoniac with age, where a Pont-l'Évêque of the same age stays sweet.

In the kitchen

Bake it whole in its wooden box at 180 °C for about twenty minutes and pour it over hot potatoes; the ammonia burns off, which is the honest use for a wheel gone a week too far.

Goes with

Apple Calvados Potato Cider vinegar Rye berries Walnut

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