Soft & bloomy cheese
Goat's cheese (chèvre)
France and many others — Loire Valley is famous for it. Goat's cheeses are made worldwide; France has many PDO goat's cheeses (e.g. Crottin de Chavignol, Sainte-Maure de Touraine).
Profile
- Milk
- Goat's milk.
- Pasteurisation
- Varies; many artisan chèvres use raw milk.
- Texture
- Fresh: soft and creamy; aged: firm, dense, chalky.
- Flavour
- Tangy, lemony, 'goaty'.
- Aroma
- Fresh, lactic; grassy.
- Rind
- None (fresh) or a thin wrinkly rind (Geotrichum), sometimes ash-coated.
- Typical maturation
- Fresh to about 6 weeks
Tasting & pairing
Compare fresh and aged versions: tang mellows into nuttiness. Use the tasting wheel.
Food
- Beetroot
- Honey and thyme
- Salad leaves
- Roasted vegetables
Drinks (non-alcoholic)
- Sparkling water with lemon
- Pear juice
Optional, if you drink alcohol: Sauvignon Blanc.
Storage: Refrigerate; fresh goat's cheese within about a week.
How it's made
- Method
- Mostly lactic-set: milk is soured slowly with culture and a very little rennet over about a day, then ladled and drained.
- Cultures
- Mesophilic lactic cultures; often Geotrichum candidum.
- Coagulation
- Acid with a little rennet
- Curd handling
- Ladled into small moulds.
- Pressing
- Not pressed.
- Salting
- Dry-salted.
- Ageing
- None to several weeks.
At home: Intermediate home make
Fresh lactic chèvre is approachable with a culture.
Recipes on FriendsPantry that use it
Sources
- Cheese Making Technology e-book — University of Guelph, Food Science
- Molds on Food: Are They Dangerous? — USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service
- Foods to avoid in pregnancy (cheese guidance) — NHS (UK)
Guidance changes: check the source for current wording. Original text; figures quoted from the sources where stated.