For Vacherin lovers, l'Edel de Cleron is the next best thing. Produced in the same part of Eastern France, the French-Comte. Edel de Cleron is a luscious cow's milk cheese, wrapped with a strip of spruce bark around their perimeter to support the cheese, which is runny when ripe.

L'Edel de Cleron, sometimes called faux Vacherin, is a made with pasteurized cow's milk, and has a Camembert-like bloomy rind when young. As it ripens, some tan molds may colonize the surface. The surface should give with gentle pressure, and it has an earthy, mushroomy aroma even before you unwrap this gourmet cheese.