PERFECTION FOR THE WEDDING BUFFET

For our wedding it took months to decide on the color scheme, the number of guests to invite and the perfect dress. However there was no hesitation about the cheese, It had to be a whole cheese sitting proud and beautiful on the buffet table as well as appealing to the tastes or our eclectic guests. Fol Epi, from the Pays de Loire region of France was the perfect choice. A Swiss-type cheese but with softer and less bitter overtones, Fol Epi has a smooth, semi-hard paste dotted with Swiss-type holes. The flavor is initially sweet and continues to a flowery and nut like finish. The beautiful part is that the approximately 14” diameter cheese is poured into a fluted mold that has wheat stalk images on the top so the cheese takes on the shape of the flutes and ears of wheat. These images are emphasized when the cheese is lightly dusted with wheat flour. The finished glorious Fol Epi is just the thing to attract attention on a wedding buffet table. My wonderful boss, Fred at the Artisan Cheese Gallery in Studio City showed up with the Fol Epi in plenty of time to let it come to room temperature before the guests arrived. Facts: French, unpasteurized cow’s milk, uncooked, pressed, semi-hard paste, aged 3 months.