Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from France, Touraine

Sainte-Maure de Touraine PDOSainte-Maure de Touraine

Raw whole goat milk is set slowly, mostly by lactic souring with a very little rennet, for 18 to 48 hours. The curd is ladled into long cone-shaped moulds and drains by itself, then the log is salted, coated with charcoal ash and threaded with an engraved cereal straw. It ripens at least 10 days until a fine mould rind covers it. Made in 6 steps over 13 days – 14 days. The longest step, ripen until the mould rind forms, takes at least 10 days (Ministère de l'agriculture 2021) and runs at 6–16 °C (Ministère de l'agriculture 2021). Mesophilic lactic acid bacteria from the raw milk, whey or added cultures, which set the curd and Surface moulds and yeasts, from the raw milk or added cultures, which form the bloomy rind do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 10 daysSet[cdc-smt2021][inao-smt]Ripen until the mould rind forms
Temperature6–16 °CSet[cdc-smt2021]Ripen until the mould rind forms

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe specification fixes limits, not a recipe. About 2.5 L of milk makes one cheese of at least 100 g dry matter.
About 2.5 L per cheeseRaw whole goat milk · Alpine, Saanen or Poitevine goats or their crosses; milked at most 48 h before collection. The mould holds about one goat's daily milk.[cdc-smt2021]
Whey or lactic cultures · Optional, to ripen the milk before renneting[cdc-smt2021]
At most 5 ml per 100 L of milkRennet (520 mg chymosin per litre)[cdc-smt2021]
Salt and vegetable charcoal · Rubbed on every face after unmoulding[cdc-smt2021]
Mould and yeast cultures · Optional; the rind can also come from the raw-milk flora[cdc-smt2021]
1 per cheeseEngraved cereal straw · Carries the producer's name and number[cdc-smt2021][inao-smt]
Starterraw-milk flora, whey from earlier batches or added mesophilic lactic cultures

Total time across the recorded steps: 13 days – 14 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
at least 10 °C

What changes: Whey or lactic cultures go into raw goat milk to start the souring

Step 1 of 6
Ripen the raw milk
Time
up to 24 h
Set
Temperature
at least 10 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Moulds
Yeasts

Output: ripened raw milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

lactic bacteria start to grow, with or without whey or cultures added

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

Sainte-Maure is the long log of the Loire goat cheeses. Its mould is a narrow cone 26 cm long, and a straw engraved with the maker's name runs through it. Valençay and Pouligny are pyramids and Selles-sur-Cher is a flat disc.

Milk
Raw whole goat milk from Alpine, Saanen or Poitevine goats; no concentration of the milk
Setting
Mostly lactic, 18–48 h at no more than 25 °C, with at most 5 ml rennet per 100 L
Ripening
At least 10 days from renneting
Size
Truncated-cone log; at least 100 g dry matter and at least 45 g fat per 100 g dry matter

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

Until the mid-20th century Touraine had no goat herds; poor rural homes kept one to three goats, and the grandmother made the cheese in the kitchen and dried it near the fire. One mould held one goat's daily milk. The moulds were first made of woven wicker. The straw was added to hold the fragile log together, then became a mark of origin. It became an appellation in 1990.

  1. [cdc-smt2021] Ministère de l'agriculture, Cahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine protégée « Sainte-Maure de Touraine », homologated by arrêté of 17 November 2021, in force from 18 March 2022 (BO-Agri notice)spec
  2. [inao-smt] INAO, product page « Sainte-Maure de Touraine » (AOP)gov
  3. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov