Ash
Fine food-grade charcoal dusted on fresh goat cheeses or used as a dark line through the middle of Morbier.
Also: vegetable ash, cendré, charcoal coating
Cheesemakers use ash, today almost always vegetable charcoal mixed with salt, in two ways. On small goat cheeses of the Loire, such as Valençay and Selles-sur-Cher, it is dusted over the fresh curd, where it lowers the acidity of the surface and helps an even white mould grow, so the finished rind is grey-blue with a white bloom. In Morbier a thin line of ash runs through the middle of the wheel, recalling the days when the evening curd was protected with soot until the morning curd was added on top. Wood ash was once used as a protective coating on rinds in many countries. It has no strong flavour of its own.