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Fermentation Atlas

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. Made in 7 steps over 27 days – 31 days. The longest step, ripen in the cellar, takes at least 21 days (Ministère de l'agriculture 2015) and runs at 8–18 °C (Ministère de l'agriculture 2015). Lactic flora of the raw milk, kept by working the milk raw and unchanged and Geotrichum candidum, the only permanent surface flora and the white "bloom" on the rind do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 21 daysSet[cdc-chev2015]Ripen in the cellar
Temperature8–18 °CSet[cdc-chev2015]Ripen in the cellar

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 milk · From a single farm herd; not standardised; renneted at most 14 h after the oldest milking[cdc-chev2015]
Rennet[cdc-chev2015]
Lactic cultures and surface flora · Selected cultures must respect the flora typical of Chevrotin[cdc-chev2015]
Salt · Brine or dry salt[cdc-chev2015]
Water, salt water or acidified whey · To wash the cheese at the end of drying[cdc-chev2015]
Sliced spruce false bottom · Part of the individual pack[cdc-chev2015]
Starter: rennet, with lactic cultures allowed; surface flora mainly Geotrichum

Total time across the recorded steps: 27 days – 31 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

What makes this one different

Most French goat cheeses are set slowly by lactic souring. Chevrotin is set fast with rennet and pressed, with a washed rind, the way the neighbouring cow cheeses of Savoie are made. The specification links this to goats and cattle being kept side by side on the same farms.

Milk
Raw whole goat milk from one farm herd, at least 80% Alpine goats
Making
Farm-made only, 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 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 says documents mention a cheese called Chevrotin in the region from the 18th century; INAO dates it to the 17th century. Leases of high pastures often required the tenant to pay part of the rent in cheeses, and Chevrotin appears among them. Goats were a side income on cattle farms, and the cheese was first made for the household. It became an 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. [inao-chev] INAO, product page « Chevrotin » (AOP)gov
  3. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov