I've always found the dramatic aging cycle of a fresh goat cheese to be a miracle of dairy science.
But as you watch a wrinkle-rinded beauty like Chabichou du Poitou morph over a matter of weeks from a tall cylinder with a soft and pasty center to something with a creamy liquid halo flowing just beneath its crust, then eventually dry out with a denser heart of chalky, creamy firmness, it is even more striking.
At my preferred Chabichou moment, which Downtown Cheese often offers at its stand in the Reading Terminal Market, this cheese is practically a runner on the plate, so lusciously gooey and glossy just beneath its rumpled crust that I'm amazed it still manages to stand up when whole.
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