{"id":6773,"date":"2020-07-19T17:04:24","date_gmt":"2020-07-19T21:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/?p=6773"},"modified":"2020-07-20T13:27:36","modified_gmt":"2020-07-20T17:27:36","slug":"boursin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/2020\/07\/19\/boursin\/","title":{"rendered":"Boursin: Creamy, garlicky, tasty\u2014and versatile"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-6777\" src=\"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/boursin-blue-cow.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"726\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/boursin-blue-cow.jpg 1007w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/boursin-blue-cow-300x290.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/boursin-blue-cow-768x744.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/boursin-blue-cow-665x644.jpg 665w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/boursin-blue-cow-269x260.jpg 269w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/>My love affair with Boursin started maybe 40 years ago, when it was still an imported delicacy from France, so creamy and so garlicky. Now made in Canada, and even though manufactured on an industrial scale, the garlic and herb Boursin is very similar to what I recall enjoying so many years ago.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Which is to say the love affair continues.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s easy to understand why beguiling Boursin may well be the most popular flavoured soft cheese in the world, now sold in some three dozen countries.<\/p>\n<p>Boursin was developed by French cheesemaker Francois Boursin in 1957 in Normandy. He was inspired by a traditional <em>fromage frais<\/em> dish in which dinner guests use bowls of fine herbs to season their own cheese.<\/p>\n<p>A major newspaper in France reported incorrectly that Boursin\u2019s cheese was flavoured with garlic. It was actually a competing cheesemaker who had introduced the garlic cheese. The newspaper article generated such interest and demand for garlic Boursin that the cheesemaker spent two years developing a garlic-flavoured cheese\u2014which was introduced in 1963 to quickly become a household name across France.<\/p>\n<p>Not only was Boursin an excellent cheesemaker, he had marketing smarts. In 1968, Boursin made history as the first cheese featured in a TV ad campaign. It featured famous French comedian Jacques Duby cast in the role of the first \u201cBoursinophile,\u201d a cheese lover unable to resist the alluring taste of Boursin whatever time of day or night. Waking in the middle of the night, he rushes to the fridge in his pyjamas yelling for Boursin over and over again.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Publicit\u00e9 Boursin - L&#039;insomniaque\" width=\"665\" height=\"499\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6FcNmyJnPvg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>You may recall seeing Boursin commercials on Canadian TV, for example:<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/aaouD-L-u8g<\/p>\n<p>More than 50 years later, Boursin now is available in seven flavours, with garlic and herbs being the most popular. The original recipe has changed little:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Pasteurized cow milk and cream, culture, garlic, salt, fresh and frozen parsley, white pepper, and fresh and frozen chives.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Since 2011, Boursin has been made in Canada in St. Hyacinthe, Qu\u00e9bec, by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.agropur.com\/en\">Agropur<\/a>, the Canadian dairy co-operative, for Bel Cheese Canada , the Canadian arm of Bel Group, the France-based multinational.\u00a0Agropur also produces Bel&#8217;s other popular cheeses, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thelaughingcow.ca\">The Laughing Cow<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.minibabybel.ca\">Mini Baby Bel<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Boursin is sometimes dubbed a Gournay cheese, Gournay being the name of the region in Normandy where Boursin was first made. The cheesemaker used the name when he was first asked to classify the cheese for customs purposes<\/p>\n<p>Why is Boursin so popular?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The taste is irresistible, especially if you like garlic.<\/li>\n<li>The small 150-gram wheels looks perfect.<\/li>\n<li>The flavour balance between creamy and savoury is just right.<\/li>\n<li>That slightly granular mouthfeel has one smacking lips. The finish lingers nicely.<\/li>\n<li>The price point, as Boursin is so widely available including at discounters like Costco and Walmart, is affordable and appealing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And it is such a versatile cheese. Great for snacks, wonderful for appetizers, excellent for cooking, just the thing for a picnic, as the slogan says, \u201cBread. Wine. Boursin.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We keep Boursin in the cheese fridge, pretty well year round. Recently, we cooked with it, making a truly delicious stuffed chicken breast.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-6779\" src=\"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/boursin-plated-best-1018x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"665\" height=\"669\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/boursin-plated-best-1018x1024.jpg 1018w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/boursin-plated-best-298x300.jpg 298w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/boursin-plated-best-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/boursin-plated-best-768x772.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/boursin-plated-best-1527x1536.jpg 1527w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/boursin-plated-best-2036x2048.jpg 2036w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/boursin-plated-best-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/boursin-plated-best-665x669.jpg 665w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/boursin-plated-best-259x260.jpg 259w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/boursin-plated-best-200x200.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 665px) 100vw, 665px\" \/>We seasoned the chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika and stuffed the breast with Boursin, saut\u00e9ed spinach and a dusting of Parmigiano. Baked at 375F for 30 minutes. Served with a garden salad.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-6780\" src=\"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/boursin-shrooms-prepped.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"636\" height=\"318\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/boursin-shrooms-prepped.jpeg 636w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/boursin-shrooms-prepped-300x150.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/boursin-shrooms-prepped-520x260.jpeg 520w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 636px) 100vw, 636px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We also transformed leftover mushrooms into lovely appetizers: Saut\u00e9e mushroom stems and spinach, then add Boursin and mix until creamy. Stuff the mushroom caps and top with Parm. Bake at 400F for 20 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Although Boursin is so readily available and affordable, one of these Covid Days we\u2019re going to try making it at home, following this simple recipe:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How to Make Cream Cheese at Home - Homemade Boursin Cheese (No Rennet)\" width=\"665\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/j4gyCzetp_s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ll let you knows how it turns out. If you have made it at home, let us know in comments below.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><em>\u2014Georgs Kolesnikovs<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Georgs Kolesnikovs is Cheese-Head-in-Chief at CheeseLover.ca. He\u2019s never met a cheese he didn\u2019t like . . . well, hardly ever.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My love affair with Boursin started maybe 40 years ago, when it was still an imported delicacy from France, so creamy and so garlicky. Now made in Canada, and even though manufactured on an industrial [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6781,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[509,507],"tags":[423,449],"brand":[],"class_list":["post-6773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bel-cheese-canada","category-boursin","tag-canadian-cheese","tag-quebec-cheese"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6773"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6787,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6773\/revisions\/6787"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6773"},{"taxonomy":"brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cheeselover.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/brand?post=6773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}