Emily In France Exclusive 🇫🇷 5 Cheeses Perfect for Halloween

From the desk of an expat.

I am a major Halloween fan, something that’s only become truer the longer I live in a country that’s a little ho-hum about the holiday. (In 17 years, I have never had a trick-or-treater. Ever.) I love getting dressed up; I love pumpkins. I love anything witchy. And since I also love cheese, I decided to pull together some of the best choices for your Halloween cheese boards.

Food-wise, candy might seem like the go-to for Halloween, but I think cheese is far more appropriate. Driven by molds and fungi, there’s nothing more ghoulish than eating something that’s actually alive on Halloween.

But if you really want to get into the Halloween spirit, not just any cheese will do. From color to shape to cheeses that are home to actual critters, here are the cheeses I think suit Halloween to a t.

Artisou

Is there anything more Halloweeny than eating a cheese named for the microscopic critters living on its rind?

Fromage aux artisons or fromage aux artisous is a specialty from the Velay in the Haute-Loire whose distinct, crater-like rind is made by tiny artisons or artisous. These tiny cheese mites devour the rind of the cheese as it ages, leaving a dusty trail in their wake.

The resulting farmstead cheese varies widely from producer to producer: Some, like the one above, offers a few natural blue veins; others are pure white inside. Spring iterations are often creamier than the dry winter version. Whichever one you get your hands on, its flavor is far from assertive; instead, expect a lactic, lemony character with nutty, almost porcini-adjacent aromas.

Munster

Don't let the name fool you: Munster has nothing to do with American Muenster. Unlike the rather bland semi-soft cheese you’ll typically find in American deli windows, true Vosgian Munster is so stinky some of my partners for my cheese-and-wine tastings refuse to let me bring it into their shops.