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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from France, Causses du Quercy

Rocamadour PDORocamadour

Raw whole goat milk is set slowly with a little rennet for at least 20 hours at about room temperature. The curd is pre-drained, salted through the mass and moulded into flat discs of about 35 g. After a day of drying the discs ripen at least six days, until a thin creamy layer forms under the skin. Made in 6 steps over 8.7 days. The longest step, ripen in a drying room or cellar, takes at least 6 days (Ministère de l'agriculture 2014) and runs at at least 10 °C (Ministère de l'agriculture 2014). Salt is 0.6–0.8 % (Ministère de l'agriculture 2014). Lactococcus lactis and Geotrichum candidum (white Geotrichum), which gives the skin its velvety look do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 6 daysSet[cdc-roca2015][inao-roca]Ripen in a drying room or cellar
Temperatureat least 10 °CSet[cdc-roca2015]Ripen in a drying room or cellar
Salt0.6–0.8 %Set[cdc-roca2015]Salt in the mass and mould

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe specification fixes limits, not a recipe. Each cheese weighs about 35 g with at least 14 g dry matter.
Raw whole goat milk · Alpine or Saanen goats or their crosses; no concentration of the milk[cdc-roca2015][inao-roca]
Lactic cultures · Harmless bacteria, yeasts and moulds are the only cultures allowed[cdc-roca2015]
At most 10 ml per 100 L of milkAnimal rennet (520 mg chymosin per litre)[cdc-roca2015]
0.6–0.8% of the curd weightSalt · Kneaded into the drained curd[cdc-roca2015]
Starterlactic cultures added to the milk on arrival; a 2022 study built a working starter from three local Lactococcus lactis strains

Total time across the recorded steps: 8.7 days

Start
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18–23 °Cshapes, not to countLactococcus lactisGeotrichum candidum

What changes: Lactic cultures and a little animal rennet go into the raw goat milk

Step 1 of 6
Add cultures and rennet
Time
up to 8 h
Set
Temperature
18–23 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus lactis
Geotrichum candidum
Geotrichum gives

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

Rocamadour is one of the smallest PDO cheeses, a 35 g disc. Unlike most Loire goat cheeses it is salted in the mass, by kneading salt into the drained curd, and it is sold after less than a week of ripening, when a creamy layer has formed under the skin.

Milk
Raw whole goat milk from Alpine or Saanen goats or their crosses
Setting
Slow set of at least 20 h at 18 °C or more, then at least 12 h pre-draining
Ripening
At least 6 days from unmoulding
Size
Flat round disc of about 35 g, at least 14 g dry matter, 45% fat in dry matter

Related ferments

Variants

  • CabécouThe general name for small goat discs of the Lot and nearby departments; Rocamadour is the protected one from the Causses

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

A lease of 1451 cited in the specification set a tithe in small cheeses from Carlucet, sold as fromage de Rocamadour. The cheese was once made from cow, goat or sheep milk; a 1928 US bulletin describes it as a tiny sheep cheese of about one eighth of a pound. By the later 20th century it was tied to goat milk. It became an AOC by decree on 16 January 1996.

  1. [cdc-roca2015] Ministère de l'agriculture, Cahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine « Rocamadour », homologated by decree 2014-1150 of 7 October 2014, consolidated with Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1594 (BO-Agri notice)spec
  2. [inao-roca] INAO, product page « Rocamadour » (AOP)gov
  3. [couderc2022] Couderc C., Laroute V., Coddeville M. et al. 2022, Harnessing diversity of Lactococcus lactis from raw goat milk, design of an indigenous starter for the production of Rocamadour, a French PDO cheese, International Journal of Food Microbiology 379:109837 (abstract)paper
  4. [doane1928] Doane C.F., Lawson H.W., revised by Matheson K.J. 1928, Varieties of cheese, descriptions and analyses, USDA Bulletin 608archive
  5. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov