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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from France, Centre-Val de Loire, west of the Indre department

Pouligny-Saint-Pierre PDOPouligny-Saint-Pierre

Raw whole goat milk is soured with a lactic starter or the previous day's whey and a little rennet at 18–22 °C for at least 18 hours. The soft curd is ladled into tall pyramid moulds, drains naturally for a day or two, is dry-salted and dried, then ripens at least 10 days until a wrinkled, ivory to bluish mould rind covers it. Made in 6 steps over 13 days – 17 days. The longest step, ripen until the mould rind covers it, takes at least 9 days (European Commission 2020) and runs at 9–16 °C (European Commission 2020). Lactic acid bacteria from the starter or back-slopped whey and the native milk flora and Surface moulds that form the wrinkled ivory-white to bluish rind do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 9 daysSet[pouligny-spec2020]Ripen until the mould rind covers it
Temperature9–16 °CSet[pouligny-spec2020]Ripen until the mould rind covers it
Fully documentedCheese13 days – 17 daysPDO (EU, 1996); AOC since 1972; specification amended 2020Family: Lactic soft-ripened cheese family (goat/sheep/cow lactic curd)More lactic soft-ripened cheesesMore from France

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification fixes limits, not a recipe. A cheese weighs at least 250 g at the end of ripening (the small size at least 150 g).
Raw whole goat milk · At most 2 consecutive milkings on the farm, or 4 from 2 days in a dairy; never heated above 22 °C before renneting[pouligny-spec2020]
Lactic starter or whey from a previous curdling[pouligny-spec2020]
Rennet[pouligny-spec2020]
Dry salt[pouligny-spec2020]
Starter: lactic starter or whey from the previous batch

Total time across the recorded steps: 13 days – 17 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
up to 22 °Cshapes, not to countLactic acid bacteriaMoulds

What changes: Starter or yesterday's whey goes into the raw goat milk

Step 1 of 6
Prepare the raw milk
Time
up to 24 h
Set
Temperature
up to 22 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Moulds

A lactic starter or whey from the previous curdling is added to start the souring.

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

Pouligny-Saint-Pierre is a slow lactic goat cheese like its Loire neighbours, but its mould is a tall, narrow pyramid, said to copy the village church bell-tower. It must be made from raw whole milk, and a ripener tends its mould rind for at least 10 days.

Milk
Raw whole goat milk; at least 75 % of the goats' yearly feed from the area; no silage
Paste
Soft lactic curd, slightly salty; at least 45 % fat in dry matter
Ripening
At least 10 days from renneting (9 days for the small size); sold from day 11
Size
Narrow square-based pyramid frustum; at least 250 g with at least 90 g dry matter, or the small size at least 150 g with 55–85 g dry matter

Related ferments

Variants

  • Petit Pouligny-Saint-PierreThe small size, at least 150 g, which may leave the ripening room on day 9.
  • Farm and dairy cheesesFarm cheese uses at most two milkings from one day; dairy cheese up to four milkings from two days. Ripeners may collect farm cheeses before salting.

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 cooked pressed ones such as Comté. 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

Brenne farmers kept goats, the "poor man's cow", on poor clay-limestone land and made a few cheeses for home use. Collector-ripeners later gathered and dried them for markets in Paris, Limoges, Châteauroux, Blois and Lyon. In 1972 Pouligny-Saint-Pierre became the first goat cheese to receive a French appellation d'origine.

  1. [pouligny-cdc2018] Cahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine « Pouligny-Saint-Pierre », homologated by the arrêté of 22 November 2018, Bulletin officiel du ministère de l'Agriculturespec
  2. [pouligny-spec2020] European Commission 2020, Publication of an application for approval of non-minor amendments to the product specification, 'Pouligny-Saint-Pierre' PDO-FR-0128-AM03, Official Journal C 193, 9.6.2020, p. 34 (approved 2020)spec
  3. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov