Double cream cheese
A soft cheese enriched with cream, with at least sixty per cent fat in its dry matter.
Also: double-crème, double crème
A double-cream cheese is made from milk to which extra cream has been added, so that fat makes up at least sixty per cent of the cheese's dry matter, which is the French legal threshold for the term double-crème. The extra fat gives a soft, buttery, almost mousse-like paste with a mild, lactic flavour. Most are small bloomy-rind cheeses such as Chaource and some Brie-style cheeses, while Gournay and fresh cream cheeses are also in this class. Because the percentage is measured on dry matter, the cheese is not as fatty overall as the number suggests. Above seventy-five per cent the cheese is triple-cream.