Places to visit
	Cheeses Julian Lucas - your guide to eating on theotherside

Maroilles Local variations Sire de Crecuy Cheese shops The square-shaped Maroilles cheeses are repeatedly brushed with salty water Boulette d'Avesnes - a cheese covered in paprika, not a sweet! Cheeses are matured in cool cellars before the cheese-master decides they are ready to sell. Above: Boulettes d'Avesnes	Artisinal producers As with other food and drink, there are the mass-produced products you buy in the hypermarkets - and then there are the small "artisanal" producers. They use local fresh ingredients and traditional techniques to produce something distinctive that helps preserve local crafts, and the culture and heritage of how the area used to eat - its gastronomie using les produits du terroir - the local produce. France's finest speciality cheeses With cheese, there are 22 named French cheeses entitled to use an officially-run quality control system known as "appelation d'origine controlée". Amongst the list of famous names like Brie, Camembert, Port Salut and Roquefort is one from Nord/Pas-de-Calais - the Maroilles cheese. Maroilles has been made since the 12th century - they make it in squares from local cows milk. It's soft and moist with a tangy flavour and quite a string smell. The Abbey of Maroilles near Avesnes used to collect its dues (tithes) from local peasants in cheese, which the monks then matured for at least 3 months in the abbey cellars. During this time each cheese is individually brushed with salt water so the orange rind and special flavour develops. Today the monks' tradition is carried on by one local farm, the Ferme du Verger Pilote - which (for best flavour) uses only the unpasteurised milk from its own herd of 120 Friesian dairy cows. Back to top Local variations of Maroilles Elsewhere in Nord/Pas-de-Calais they make local variations of this famous cheese: Le Vieux Lille or "Maroilles-gris" is soaked in local beer while it ripens. It ends up with a soft grey almost slimy appearance and an extremely strong smell. Sometimes called "Vieux Puant", "old stinker" - it's an acquired taste! La Boulette d'Avesnes is made from reject pieces of Maroilles, mixed with black pepper and tarragon, and rolled in hot red paprika to the shape of a cone - it's a strong firy taste! Le Dauphin - a dolphin-shaped Maroilles with added herbs and spices. Back to top
Ripening trays of Sire de Crecuy	Sire de Crecuy Made on one farm near Fruges in the"Sept Vallées" area, this is not an "appelation d'origine controlée", but highly-rated as one of the great farm cheeses. The rounds of cheese made from unpasteurised cows' milk are also "rind-washed" - that is, regularly brushed with salt water while they mature for 2 months in the farm's cellar. Back to top
Cheese shop cellar - managing the ripening stock is a key part of giving you a new “cheese” experience...	Specialist cheese shops - fromageries Philippe Olivier's shops keep carefully-managed cellars where cheeses from local suppliers are slowly ripened until nearly ready for eating. The shops' stock reflects a masterful knowledge of the different types of cheeses made from local milks, and how to prepare and serve them for best flavour and taste. Back to top

	Places to visit: List of specialist cheese shops Make an appointment to visit the cellars of Philippe Olivier's shops at: 43 rue Thiers, BOULOGNE. Tel: 00 33 3 21 31 94 74 3 rue du Curé St. Etienne, LILLE. 22 rue vieille Poissonnerie, VALENCIENNES. 101 rue de Metz, LE TOUQUET 30 Bd de L'Impératrice, ETAPLES rue Louis Martel, ST-OMER. List of cheese-making dairies you can visit. Back to top
	Related background information Farming

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