Gratte Paille is a triple creamy gourmet cheese that was invented in the 1970's by a creamery in Seine-et-Marne. The meaning of the cheese is gratte (scrape) and paille (straw) which comes from the fact that the cheese straw mats the cheese ripes on.
Gratte Paille is a soft-white cheese of hand molded brick shape with natural white rind, almost twice as thick as a Camembert cheese. The creamy cheese has an oily texture and mushroom flavor which sharpens with age.
Cheeses that show some similarities with the Gratte Paille are Pierre Robert and Brillat-Savarin cheese.
Gratte Paille is usually used in combination with other foods, such as chicken and vegetables, and in combination with strawberries it is a real treat as well.
In order to comply with US FDA regulation for export to the USA the maturation of this cheese has been extended to over 60 days.