March 17, 2007

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French Cheese: St. Albray and St. Andre

When I was in Germany, we spent Christmas at my ex-boyfriend's aunt and uncle's house. Every morning, we had the same breakfast: an enormous spread of breads and rolls, 6 or 7 different cheeses, 4 or 5 meats, Nutella, 3 different jams/jellies, liverwurst (I'm not a fan, but it was present), and hard boiled eggs. There are probably things I am forgetting because basically the table was covered in food. The best part, in my opinion, was sampling all of the cheeses. Selection of cheese in Europe is so great compared to what you can find in a typical American market.

So at this breakfast, I first discovered Saint Albray cheese. It is similar to Camembert and is incredibly creamy and delicious. It was by far my favorite of the cheeses we had at breakfast. It also comes in the shape of a flower and has a slightly orange skin. When Nick and I returned to Berlin for a few days before I flew back to the US, I bought some to bring back with me.

Since then, I have not been able to find Saint Albray. The other day in the market by my house, I saw a French cheese called Saint Andre, and my memory not being quite so strong for cheese names, thought perhaps that was the same French cheese from Christmas in Germany. I knew it did not have the flower shape or orange skin, but I thought perhaps they exported it in slightly different form. So I bought it.

Saint Andre is also delicious. It is a brie/camembert type cheese, but with a ton of creamy milkfat added. It also has a skin of mold making it more intense. It is taller than the Saint Albray and most brie wheels you see.

Anyway, my point with this post is that I am learning to feel more confident with any cheese with a Saint's name beginning with A and coming from France... While different, these are both delicious. And if anyone can find a place in the US to buy Saint Albray, I would love to know.

Posted by Cara Bohon at March 17, 2007 4:58 PM | Comments (11) | EatFoo 1.0 Posts


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It's interesting that you can't find it, because they have it everywhere here. Whole Foods, Harris Teeter, even the tiny grocer in the strip mall near my house has it.

I've had my eye on it for a while, but have yet to try it. I have a mini-fridge that is basically full of coke and cheese. I literally have like 12 different cheeses in my fridge. It's wonderful but way too much. I'm trying to finish off a bunch before I buy more.

Posted by: Barzelay at March 18, 2007 10:02 PM


Yeah, I am thinking that my next party will be a wine/cheese party so I have an excuse to try a bunch of cheeses at once. Your Austin wine/cheese party was so great - or really the shopping we did for cheese before you had the party... I mean, the party was fun, too, I guess.

And perhaps I will have to do more searching for Saint Albray here. My usual market doesn't have it. And I'm pretty confident that Safeway won't have it. We'll see.

Posted by: Cara Bohon at March 18, 2007 11:31 PM


I just bought Saint Albray from my grocers. But it is cut into a wedge (small). I have to say it was nasty!. I tried to eat it, but finally spit it out and finally rinsed my mouth. It sounds like it is supposed to be wonderful. Do you think it's spoiled? It looked lovely. But didn't taste lovely at all! Help.

Posted by: alicia at May 9, 2007 12:13 PM


Hmm, I have no idea. I've only had it in Europe, so it could be that the importing process messes it up or allows it to age in a not normal way? I have no idea... If you're ever in Europe, give it a shot there and see if it's different. My other advice would be to get a friend to try it from a different store (a friend so that you don't have to spend a ton of money on it) - and see if it's any different.

Posted by: Cara at May 9, 2007 1:00 PM


Thanks Cara, My daughter heads to Europe in July, so I'll have her try it for me!

Posted by: alicia at May 10, 2007 10:44 AM


i love that cheese, i ussualy find it at publix supermarkets

Posted by: mariana at May 19, 2007 2:35 PM


I tried some at our local Ralph's, but it had a bitter, nasty, ammonia-like flavor. I'll have to try some from somewhere else but I have to agree with Alicia above. Of course, since it is only aged two weeks when originally sold, it may be quite a bit older by the time you get it at the store. I had a reaction like CDR Data on Star Trek: "This is revolting!" and promptly ate some more.

Posted by: StephenB at June 23, 2007 7:06 PM


Stop & Shop has the cheese. I know it smells and frankly i have never tasted it that I know of. But my friends are into adventures in cheese. Funny last time I bought it but threw it out because it stunk up my fridge soooo bad. I was afraid everything in the fridge would taste like the smell! Now I have one out on the counter and it does not smell so bad. I'm going to taste it this Labor day BBQ.

Posted by: jo ann at September 1, 2007 4:43 PM


you could not eat the outer coating, they are bitter. remove the orange coat & it taste wonderful.

Posted by: netyolk at December 17, 2007 9:42 AM


St Albray and St Andre can be found in Portland Orygun, at Nature's and places like it.
We just had St Albray as an appetizer tonight YUM,
St Andre tomorrow.

Cheers
Edw

Posted by: Edward Wright, Sr. at March 8, 2008 10:31 PM


Cute generalization. Try St Agur then, you might also like it.

Posted by: potato at March 18, 2008 4:41 AM

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