Oh thank you Mr Marche Francais and thank you ewes of Aveyron – your Perail de Brebis was velvet for my mouth, rich cream for my soul!

Who would’ve thought such a thin frisbee of a cheese could envelope my mouth so fully and so completely? It looked like a wide, flat Camembert, only a centimetre or so deep, with a delicate dusting of off-white surface mould.

But wow, when cut, this was no chalky, supermarket camembert. This little beauty flooded our cheese board with the most glorious, silky paste, like ice cream melting on a summer’s day. A delightful surprise.

Perail is made with ewes’ milk, and I wonder if it is the higher fats in sheeps milk that gives it this surprising silkiness? Sweet and nutty, but with a strength that gives it unexpected character.

This was a great addition to our cheese board on Saturday, a surprising ewes milk to accompany our goats milk Banon and a nutty cows milk Comte. A gorgeous romp though the cheese making milks.