The perfect gift for Valentine's Day has got to be a heart shaped cheese! And though these come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and cheese variations, which is better than one originating from an expression of love during war.

The story goes that the maids of Neufchâtel-en-Bray, in Normandy, France – most of whom were cheese makers – started to fall in love with the British soldiers during the hundred years war and as an expression of their love started to produce heart shaped, soft cheeses, which they would sometimes give as gifts to their sweethearts.