Lactic soft-ripened cheeses

Bouton de culotte ("trouser button") is a very small goat's milk cheese from the Mâconnais and Haut-Beaujolais, named for its size and button shape. It is small enough to drain without being turned. It ripens at least two weeks, and longer ageing, about two months, brings out a peppery taste.

Milk

Goat milk

Ripening

At least 14 days; about 2 months for a peppery taste

1. Make the curd
2. Drain without turning
3. Dry and ripenat least 14 days

• France Hotel Guide, «21 fromages français renommés que nous recommandons d'essayer» (blog entry on Bouton de culotte)
• Publication of an application for the PDO «Mâconnais» with its single document, Journal officiel de l'Union européenne C 308, 18 December 2009, p. 47 (2009/C 308/13; FR, Publications Office copy)

A farm goat cheese from the Tarn. Raw goat milk sets slowly by lactic fermentation, and the curd is shaped by hand in linen cloth and drained without pressing for at least 24 hours; the folds of the cloth give its long, wrinkled shape. Topped with a sprig of rosemary, it is eaten young or at about three weeks.

Rind

Pale ivory, thin, tender and wrinkled

Season

Spring to autumn

1. Lactic set
2. Shape and drain in linenat least 24 h
3. Top with rosemary
4. Ripenup to 21 days

Safety: The cheese is made from raw goat milk and eaten young or at about three weeks. CDC advises pregnant women, newborns, adults 65 or older and people with a weakened immune system to avoid any cheese made from raw milk.

• culture: the word on cheese, cheese library entry 'Bouyguette'
• US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infection

Also called Brin d'amour, Fleur du maquis.

A Corsican raw-milk cheese flavoured with herbs, savory and rosemary, and with a mouldy rind. It is moulded by hand, salted once dry and ripened in curing rooms for 45 to 120 days. Sources disagree on the milk. French Moments says goat milk or sometimes ewe's milk, while culture magazine gives sheep milk from Lacaune ewes for the very similar Brin d'Amour.

Size

About 700 g, roughly 12 cm across and 6 cm thick

Ripening

45 to 120 days in curing rooms

1. Set with natural rennet
2. Mould by hand
3. Salt once dry
4. Ripen45 days – 3.9 months

Safety: The cheese is made from raw milk and ripened for 45 to 120 days. The US FDA says ageing raw- milk cheese for 60 days may not remove E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, and Listeria can grow in some cheeses during ageing.

• French Moments, 'Fleur du Maquis, Corsica' (updated 29 January 2022)
• culture magazine, Cheese Library, 'Brin d'Amour'
• US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Days

A soft-ripened cheese of pasteurised goat milk, set overnight by lactic acid and a vegetable enzyme and moulded in two layers with a line of edible ash between them. The top is dusted with ash and a white bloomy rind grows over it, so the cheese ripens from the outside in, leaving a fresh goat curd core under a creamy layer.

Sizes

Small wheel about 9 × 5 cm, 310–400 g; large wheel about 18 × 5 cm, 2–2.25 kg

Ash

A line of edible ash through the middle, as in Morbier, and ash under the rind

1. Set the milk slowly
2. Fill the moulds in two layers
3. Coat with ash and add the rind culture
4. Ripenat least 21 days

Safety: Made from pasteurised milk. The NHS still advises pregnant women to eat mould-ripened soft cheeses with a white coating, such as chèvre, only when thoroughly cooked, because of Listeria.

• CooksInfo, 'Humboldt Fog cheese'
• Wikipedia, Humboldt Fog (outline only)
• NHS, Foods to avoid in pregnancy (cheese section)

A lactic goat cheese log made on the farm from the herd's own raw milk. Whey from the last make is added to the still-warm milk as starter and left overnight; morning milk is added, a little animal rennet goes in, and the curd sets slowly until the next morning. The curd is hand-ladled into log moulds, drained, salted and turned, and ripens for a few weeks as its natural rind forms.

Milk

Raw goat milk from the farm's own herd, which grew from 100 goats in 1987 to 350

Kidding

Goats kid from February to July so there is milk all year

1. Add whey starter to the warm milk
2. Add morning milk and a little rennet
3. Ladle into log moulds
4. Salt and turn
5. Ripen

Safety: Made from raw goat milk and ripened for only a few weeks. The FDA says raw milk and raw milk products can carry Listeria, Campylobacter, Salmonella and E. coli. It names the elderly, immune-compromised people, children and pregnant women as especially vulnerable.

• Neal's Yard Dairy, 'Dairy Diaries - Highfields Farm Dairy' (blog by Amiee Lawn)
• US Food and Drug Administration, Food Safety and Raw Milk
• La Fromagerie, 'Innes cheese visit', 2022

Also called saint-félicien, Saint-Félicien du Dauphiné.

Saint-Félicien is a soft, lactic cow-milk cheese from the Lyon and Dauphiné area, made by a method close to Saint-Marcellin but thicker, richer and creamier. The curd is neither pressed nor kneaded, is lightly salted, and ripens under a thin coat of surface moulds.

Milk

Cow milk only, by the decree; a farm goat-milk cheese sold as « caillé doux de Saint-Félicien » in Ardèche is a separate product

Rind

Thin surface moulds

Size

Cylinder 85–120 mm across, 20–40 mm high, 150–220 g when packed (Wikipédia, unsourced)

1. Prepare the milk
2. Set the curd
3. Mould and drain
4. Salt lightly
5. Ripen28–42 days

Safety: The cheese is made from whole raw cow milk, though thermised or pasteurised milk is also used (Wikipédia). CDC says products made from raw milk can expose people to germs such as Campylobacter, E. coli, Listeria, Brucella and Salmonella, and advises people who are pregnant, 65 or older or have a weakened immune system to avoid any cheese made with raw milk.

• Wikipédia (fr), Saint-félicien (fromage du Dauphiné) (outline; ripening cited to Le Monde, 2 August 2018)
• Assemblée nationale 2017–2018, written question n° 2965 (F. Brun) and answer of the Ministry of Agriculture, JO 20 February 2018, on Saint-Félicien and décret 2007-628
• US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Raw Milk (31 January 2025)
• US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infection

A soft Irish farmhouse goat cheese from the farm's own Saanen and Toggenburg herd, made by hand with cultures. The raw-milk cheeses use animal rennet and the pasteurised ones vegetarian rennet. The curd is mixed with salt by hand, and the logs are dried to set the rind and turned often while they firm. They are mild and creamy when young and grow firmer and more pungent with age.

Rind

Thin natural rind; the Ash version is rolled in vegetable ash

1. Take the morning milk
2. Add cultures and rennet
3. Mix in salt and mould
4. Dry and turn

Safety: The farm makes both pasteurised and raw-milk cheeses. The CDC says people at higher risk, including pregnant women, people 65 or older and people with weak immunity, should avoid raw-milk cheese unless it is heated to 165 °F (74 °C) or until steaming hot.

• Neal's Yard Dairy, product page 'St Tola'
• Sheridans Cheesemongers, product page 'St Tola Ash'
• St Tola, the farm's website (home page, 'Our Story' and range)
• US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infection