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Cheese from France, Haute-Savoie and Savoie

Chevrotin PDOChevrotin

Raw whole goat milk is set with rennet straight after milking, cut, moulded in cloth and pressed, so the cheese is made like a Savoie cow cheese, not like a slow lactic goat cheese. It dries on spruce boards, is washed with water, salt water or soured whey, and ripens for at least 21 days under a thin white coat of Geotrichum. It is made only on farms.

Fully documentedCheese5.9 days – 10 daysPDO (EU); French appellation obtained in 2002 (the ministry calls it an AOP)Family: Uncooked or semi-cooked pressed cheese family (tomme, Saint-Nectaire, Reblochon, Morbier, Raclette)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification fixes limits, not a recipe. Each cheese weighs 250–350 g, 9–12 cm across and 3–4.5 cm high.
Raw whole goat milkFrom a single farm herd; not standardised; renneted at most 14 h after the oldest milking[cdc-chev2015]
Rennet[cdc-chev2015]
Lactic cultures and surface floraSelected cultures must respect the flora typical of Chevrotin[cdc-chev2015]
SaltBrine or dry salt[cdc-chev2015]
Water, salt water or acidified wheyTo wash the cheese at the end of drying[cdc-chev2015]
Sliced spruce false bottomPart of the individual pack[cdc-chev2015]
StarterLactic cultures and surface flora are allowed processing aids; the specification says working the milk raw keeps its native lactic and surface flora.

Total time across the recorded steps: 5.9 days – 10 days

Start
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10–40 °C

What changes: Starting material: raw whole goat milk, never chilled below 10 °C

Step 1 of 7
Milk the goats and keep the milk warm
Time
up to 14 h
Set
Temperature
10–40 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Geotrichum candidum

The milk may only be filtered; no other physical treatment is allowed. Output: raw whole goat milk from one herd.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Raw whole goat milk is set with rennet straight after milking, cut, moulded in cloth and pressed, so the cheese is made like a Savoie cow cheese, not like a slow lactic goat cheese. It dries on spruce boards, is washed with water, salt water or soured whey, and ripens for at least 21 days under a thin white coat of Geotrichum. It is made only on farms. Made in 7 steps over 5.9 days – 10 days. The longest step, dry on spruce boards and wash, takes 5–9 days (Ministère de l'agriculture 2015) and runs at 15–20 °C (Ministère de l'agriculture 2015). Geotrichum candidum, the only permanent surface flora and the white "bloom" on the rind does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step5–9 daysSet[cdc-chev2015]Dry on spruce boards and wash
Temperature15–20 °CSet[cdc-chev2015]Dry on spruce boards and wash

What makes this one different

The specification says that among goat cheeses Chevrotin is unusual for its fast coagulation and washed rind. It is a pressed uncooked cheese, and the specification says the nearness of goat and cattle farms could explain why its method is close to that of the region's cow cheeses.

Milk
Raw whole goat milk from one farm herd, at least 80% Alpine goats
Making
Farm-made only; cutting, stirring, moulding, pressing and salting by hand; rennet set at 30–38 °C, pressed 6–12 h
Ripening
At least 21 days from renneting, drying included
Size
9–12 cm across, 3–4.5 cm high, 250–350 g

Related ferments

Safety

This is a raw-milk cheese ripened only three weeks. ANSES advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity not to eat raw-milk cheeses other than pressed cooked-curd cheeses such as Gruyère or Comté, because of Listeria, Salmonella and Shiga-toxin E. coli. ANSES says thorough cooking, as in an oven dish, removes the risk, but cutting off the rind does not.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The specification says documents mention a cheese called Chevrotin in the region from the 18th century. Leases of high pastures often required the tenant to pay part of the rent in cheeses, and Chevrotin appears among them. Goat rearing was long a side income to cattle on the region's farms, and its milk, cheese and meat were for the family. The French agriculture ministry says it has been made for three centuries between Savoie and Haute-Savoie and obtained its protected appellation in 2002.

  1. [cdc-chev2015] Ministère de l'agriculture, Cahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine « Chevrotin » associé à l'avis AGRT1512587V, Bulletin officiel n°24-2015 (in force since Regulation (EU) 2015/794)spec
  2. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov
  3. [maa2021] Ministère de l'Agriculture et de la Souveraineté alimentaire, Le Chevrotin AOP, un fromage issu des pâturages savoyards (18 August 2021)gov