Even well-wrapped Livarot is apt to remind you that it is there! This small cheese from Normandy's Pays d'Auge is certainly a qualifier for the top ten most pungent French cheeses.
Livarot is known as 'the colonel' because of the five strips of raffia which are wrapped round it to stop bulging. It has a glossy orange-brown washed rind which can become very dark and rustic looking. The golden paste has little holes and is soft and springy.
The aroma from the rind is very strong with farmyard like bacon and ammonia but the paste is more subtle, though still with meaty overtones. The taste is also full and strong with farmyard flavors and a strong, salty lemon tang which bites the tongue.
Similar cheeses are Epoisses, Munster and Pont l'Évêque.