Époisses

Spoon it onto sourdough. Structure is the only thing it lacks.

Burgundy with Burgundy. Pinot's acid is all that survives contact.

The washing brine, drinkable. Grape spirit against ammonia, mutual respect.

Melted over hot potato it becomes sauce. The least frightening use.

Tannin against a paste that would otherwise coat everything permanently.

Vinegar as emergency brake. It resets the mouth between spoonfuls.

Geosmin and washed rind share an earth note; the sugar handles the salt.

Ripe sugar is the standard defence against a rind this loud.

Both smell of gas and both taste of cream. The overlap is genuinely uncomfortable.

Two sulfur bombs. A tasting-menu dare that occasionally justifies itself.

Sugar makes an aggressive rind read savoury instead of rotten. Sparingly.

Two ammoniated proteins. If one is acceptable, so is the other.

The cheese is nearly liquid. The baguette is the only spoon allowed.

Washed-rind funk and yeast funk are the same bacteria doing similar work.

Shared methanethiol. Appalling on paper, coherent in the mouth.

Roast bitterness against ammonia, with carbonation doing the scrubbing.