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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from France, Haute-Provence around the town of Banon

Banon PDOBanon

Raw whole goat milk is set quickly with rennet, not by slow lactic souring, and the curd is cut within two hours and drained in moulds. The small cheese ripens bare for 5 to 10 days, may be dipped in wine brandy, then is folded in brown chestnut leaves tied with raffia. It ripens at least 10 more days under the leaves. Made in 9 steps over 18 days – 24 days. The longest step, ripen bare, takes 5–10 days (Ministère de l'agriculture 2017) and runs at at least 8 °C (Ministère de l'agriculture 2017). Lactic bacteria from the raw milk or added lactic cultures and Surface flora (yeasts and moulds, natural or from ripening cultures), which must cover the bare cheese before it is wrapped do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step5–10 daysSet[cdc-bano2017]Ripen bare
Temperatureat least 8 °CSet[cdc-bano2017]Ripen bare

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe specification fixes limits, not a recipe. Each cheese weighs 90–110 g without its leaves.
Raw whole goat milk · Commune Provençale, Rove and Alpine goats and their crosses; not standardised; renneted within 18 h of the oldest milking[cdc-bano2017]
20–35 ml per 100 L of milkRennet (520 mg chymosin per litre)[cdc-bano2017]
Lactic and ripening cultures · Allowed; nothing else may be added to the milk[cdc-bano2017]
Salt · Dry salt or brine[cdc-bano2017]
Wine brandy (eau-de-vie de vin) or marc · Optional dip or spray before wrapping[cdc-bano2017]
Brown chestnut leaves and natural raffia · Leaves picked when they fall in autumn, stored dry and softened in boiling water or 5% vinegar water; the raffia makes 6 to 12 rays[cdc-bano2017][inao-bano]
Starterrennet is the main coagulant; lactic and ripening cultures are allowed

Total time across the recorded steps: 18 days – 24 days

Start
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29–35 °Cshapes, not to countLactic acid bacteriaYeastsMoulds

What changes: A full dose of rennet goes into raw goat milk warmed to about body heat

Step 1 of 9
Warm and rennet the milk
Time
up to 18 h
Set
Temperature
29–35 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Yeasts
Moulds

Output: renneted milk.

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

What makes this one different

Unlike the slow lactic goat cheeses of the Loire, Banon is set fast with rennet, a method the specification ties to the hot, dry Provençal climate. It then ripens folded in chestnut leaves, which keep air out and pass tannins into the cheese.

Milk
Raw whole goat milk from Provençal Common, Rove and Alpine goats
Setting
Fast rennet set at 29–35 °C; curd cut within 2 h
Ripening
At least 15 days from renneting, at least 10 of them under the leaves
Size
75–85 mm across and 20–30 mm high with the leaves; 90–110 g without them

Related ferments

Safety

This is a raw-milk soft cheese. ANSES advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity not to eat raw-milk cheeses other than hard cooked ones, because of Listeria, Salmonella and Shiga-toxin E. coli. Cooking the cheese removes the risk.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and Shiga-toxin-producing E. coli (risks ANSES names for raw-milk cheeses).

History and sources

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

The specification cites a 15th-century gift of small soft rennet cheeses to King René of Provence. The first written record of folded goat cheeses named Banon is in Marius Morard's Cuisinière provençale of 1886. Banon was the main cheese market of the Lure and Albion country. Folding the cheeses in leaves kept them through winter, when the goats were dry. It became an appellation in 2003.

  1. [cdc-bano2017] Ministère de l'agriculture, Cahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine protégée « Banon », homologated by arrêté of 27 December 2017, JORF of 30 December 2017 (BO-Agri)spec
  2. [inao-bano] INAO, product page « Banon » (AOP)gov
  3. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov