How can I bring unpasteurized cheese home from Paris?

June 30, 2009 8:15 PM

Have you ever successfully brought French cheeses into the US? Did you declare them, or not? Also, seeking recommendations on the raw milk cheeses I shouldn't miss, and wrapping/packing advice.
posted by CunningLinguist to travel & transportation (23 comments total)

Not sure if this will help you with the specific question, but worth noting that, in Illinois at least, it is illegal to sell raw milk. BUT.. if you OWN a cow, you can certainly consume the raw milk it provides..

You can also own a PART of a cow, and pay a farmer to milk her for you, while reaping the same benefits.

NY might have something similar? Check: http://www.realmilk.com/where4.html#ny
posted by akephalos at 8:19 PM on June 30

I have successfully brought French cheeses into the US on many different occasions. I have never declared them, although one time I bought a cheese in the Duty Free in order to use up some Euros. Except for the Duty Free, I wrapped up the cheeses in layers of plastic right before leaving and buried them in the middle of my suitcase.

My family has a long history of doing this, beginning with my French (Catholic) grandparents' initial overtures to my father's New Jersey Jewish family which involved packing a magnificent selection of cheeses into a crate and sending it by mail (this was 1963) from Paris to South Orang (tightly wrapped in order to evade detection at customs). Based on that story I have never really been afraid of leaving a cheese unrefrigerated for the 8+ hours it takes to get from Paris to Brooklyn.

p.s. I don't know about raw milk laws in NYC but I know I have seen raw milk cheese at Whole Foods and Fairway.
posted by chelseagirl at 8:28 PM on June 30

Orange, not Orang.
posted by chelseagirl at 8:29 PM on June 30

I know a guy who snuck French cheeses into the US by wrapping them up, putting them in Tupperware ... and then hiding them in his wife's suitcase.

It worked.
posted by Comrade_robot at 8:30 PM on June 30

If you declare it, they'll take it away from you - you are not really supposed to bring in foreign meat/dairy products (also: raw is legal in America if it is made in the USA and then aged a certain time. if it is raw and from abroad it is not allowed. if it is raw, made in America, and not aged for a certain length of time, it is not allowed. America is super strict about cheese. :( ) . But, if you don't declare and you are lucky, you'll usually get by just fine.

These two were my favorite cheeses in France but I don't really know what they were called (the top one is raw goat's milk that is firm/creamy on the inside and gooey around the edges, then covered in ash. the bottom is gooey sheep's milk cheese. both were amazing.). As long as it is gooey, it will probably be awesome. Look for cheeses that are specialities of the region which you are visiting for optimal results.

As far as wrapping to transport - I wouldn't be too worried about cheese being unrefrigerated, sine that's normally how it is sold, and that is how French people generally leave it. Personal story - my friend's mother wrapped the cheese in plastic and put it with her makeup in a packed bag. Didn't get caught.
posted by mustcatchmooseandsquirrel at 8:39 PM on June 30

Oh I'm not worried about it being unrefrigerated - I wouldn't put a good cheese in the fridge in the first place. I'm worried about the dogs smelling it.
posted by CunningLinguist at 8:44 PM on June 30

Actually, while on a recent trip to Amsterdam the guy who made the cheese told us that we could bring that cheese back into the US because it was made differently from factory cheese and didn't need to be refrigerated.

I didn't check the actual laws and I'm trusting the statement of someone who as far as I know never actually tried to bring his cheese into the US.
posted by theichibun at 9:08 PM on June 30

just as a mention on comrade_robot's comment, if you are doing something that may constitute a felonious omission, dont screw your wife/partner over by anonymously hiding it in their items.
posted by akephalos at 9:27 PM on June 30

Cheese refrigeration guide: http://www.milkfacts.info/Milk%20Processing/Cheese%20Refrigeration%20Guidelines.htm
posted by akephalos at 9:29 PM on June 30

My inlaws travel to Europe frequently for business and always bring back at least three or four cheeses on every trip. They usually freeze it before they come home, which doesn't seem to hurt it much, and tightly wrap it etc.

I assume they don't declare it, but they've never gotten pinched.
posted by padraigin at 9:54 PM on June 30

Since my profile links to my web site with my real name on it and such I won't tell you how to break the law, though I do think the U.S. restrictions against raw milk cheese are ignorant and ridiculous. I have heard (uh) that vacuum packing might better your odds, as well as say, carrying a box of cheesy biscuits or cheese straws or something (perfectly legal) which might be sniffed out by those cute beagles and showing them when asked, may work. It is a crapshoot, though the odds are probably in your favor. YMMV.

As far as what cheese to get, it's hard to say unless I know what cheeses you like, and cheese preference is so individual. My heavenly 2 year old wrinkly Banon might be your strange looking hockey puck wrapped in dead leaves, and so on. So just dive in and indulge when you are in France, and take notes on what you liked, especially the type (hard, aged or not, what kind of milk, what region, etc) and go from there. Have fun! Try to make it to Switzerland too sometime, where cheese is as serious a business, and almost as varied, as it in in France.

(on preview: My Swiss in-laws would turn in their graves at the idea of freezing cheese.)
posted by thread_makimaki at 10:25 PM on June 30

It seems, possibly, it may be legal to bring in some raw cheeses for your own consumption.

A 2007 release revealing large-scale trafficking in raw-milk cheese from Mexico contains this hopeful note:''Travelers making entry into the U.S. are permitted to bring in personal-use quantities of cheese, not more than five kilograms (10 pounds) for their own consumption.''

This ''Bring it Home'' summary, again from Customs, says soft cheeses are ''regulated'' but doesn't say they're strictly forbidden. There's a phone number... maybe give them a call and solicit cheese import counsel? It's 1-877-CBP-5511.

I sincerely wish I could offer more meaningful advice on the noble art of cheese smuggling. Because cheese wants to be free.
posted by t0astie at 3:21 AM on July 1

Vacuum packing is the way to go, and it's not uncommon for better fromageries to offer it. Not that I'd know, you understand...
posted by j-dawg at 4:39 AM on July 1

Nthing the vacuum packing. One of my earliest memories is of my father in his cousins kitchen vacuum packing reblochons and camemberts to bring back to the rest of fam in the US.

As far as what types - other then things you taste and love obviously, focus on raw milk artisanal stuff less the 60 days old. Those items are technically illegal in the states and therefore a bit hard to find in NYC. Anything older then 60 days in theory you can find in the US. The affinage will be suboptimal, but not much you can do about that.

There are earlier threads on Fromageries worth visiting in Paris. If you are in the countryside maybe tell us where so we can point you in the direction of the local species.
posted by JPD at 4:51 AM on July 1

I have brought Spanish cheeses and ham almost every time I go there. Declaring them will most likely result in confiscation, not declaring may result in confiscation but to a lesser degree. The dogs I see at the airport are there to smell for drugs and/or explosives. They aren't trained to smell foods.
posted by JJ86 at 5:37 AM on July 1

I had heard (what is probably a stupid rumor) that drug runners were using cheese to mask the scent of their products, and now the dogs alert to cheese.
posted by CunningLinguist at 5:44 AM on July 1

If that is the case, then trying to bring cheese in even if you do declare it may bring many heavily armed drug agents down on in you in a heartbeat to search every single orifice for drugs.
posted by JJ86 at 5:52 AM on July 1

Hmmmm, I just found this absorbing Chowhound thread from 2006 in which a customs agent answers all sorts of obscure questions about importing food.

I'm starting to lean towards declaring it and hoping they just wave me on.
posted by CunningLinguist at 6:15 AM on July 1

Aha: "most of the beagles are trained to find fruits and meats. however, a few have been crosstrained to get drugs."
posted by CunningLinguist at 6:30 AM on July 1

I'm starting to lean towards declaring it and hoping they just wave me on.

From my experiences at JFK, this is perhaps the plan most likely to make your life unhappy. They WILL stop you, as I found when bringing back perfectly legal stuff from Iceland, and even if they let you keep it, your discussion will be long and tedious.
posted by dame at 7:31 AM on July 1

You declared legal ag items and they still grilled you? Did they open your bags?
posted by CunningLinguist at 7:54 AM on July 1

I have declared it once, without listing it as unpasteurized and the bored agent didn't seem to care. I have also smuggled it once, deciding that I would say I forgot if exposed. The second way was more fun, but dumber.
posted by Lame_username at 10:17 AM on July 1

Follow up: turns out cheese is legal to bring in, so the whole premise of this question was stupid. It's meat you can't bring in.

That said, as every time before, a bunch of bored customs guys just waved us through without even looking at the form I had scrawled on. I could have had a whole ham. No dogs around either.

And all the fromageries are ready to vacuum pack your purchases for travel - even the tiny tourist-free one I ended up in.

And finally, a fresh Charolais is pretty much the greatest thing ever. Also Selles-sur-Cher, which I think is the top one in mustcatchmooseandsquirrel's pic.
posted by CunningLinguist at 4:27 AM on July 11