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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from France, Bas-Berry

Valençay PDOValençay

Raw whole goat milk is ripened with whey or lactic cultures, then set slowly with a little rennet for at least 18 hours. The curd is ladled straight into truncated-pyramid moulds and drains by itself, then each cheese is salted and coated with charcoal ash. It is sold from the eleventh day, once a mould rind covers it. Made in 6 steps over 13 days. The longest step, dry off and ripen, takes at least 11 days (Ministère de l'agriculture 2014) and runs at at least 10 °C (Ministère de l'agriculture 2014). Mesophilic lactic acid bacteria (homofermentative and heterofermentative), from the raw milk, whey or cultures, which set the curd and Surface moulds of the genera Geotrichum and Penicillium, from the raw milk, whey or added cultures do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 11 daysSet[cdc-vale2014]Dry off and ripen
Temperatureat least 10 °CSet[cdc-vale2014]Dry off and ripen

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe specification fixes limits, not a recipe. A large-mould cheese has more than 90 g of dry matter, a small-mould cheese more than 45 g.
Raw whole goat milk · Alpine or Saanen goats or their crosses; at most the last four milkings (two on farms); not homogenised or concentrated[cdc-vale2014]
Whey or mesophilic lactic cultures · To ripen the milk before renneting[cdc-vale2014]
At most 8 ml per 100 L of milkRennet (520 mg chymosin per litre)[cdc-vale2014]
Salt and vegetable charcoal powder · Mixed and spread on every face after unmoulding[cdc-vale2014][inao-vale]
Ripening moulds and yeasts (optional) · Geotrichum, Penicillium, Kluyveromyces, Debaryomyces or Trichosporon cultures[cdc-vale2014]
Starterwhey from earlier batches and/or mesophilic homofermentative or heterofermentative lactic cultures

Total time across the recorded steps: 13 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
shapes, not to countLactic acid bacteria

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

Step 1 of 6
Ripen the milk with whey or cultures
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Moulds
Penicillium
Yeasts
Geotrichum

Output: ripened raw milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

mesophilic lactic bacteria start to grow and give the curd its lactic character

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

Valençay is the only truncated pyramid among the ashed, mould-ripened goat cheeses of the area; its top was cut off. Pouligny-Saint-Pierre is a taller pyramid with a point. Like Selles-sur-Cher, Valençay is salted and ashed after unmoulding.

Milk
Raw whole goat milk from Alpine or Saanen goats or their crosses
Setting
Slow lactic set of at least 18 h at no more than 25 °C; at most 8 ml rennet per 100 L
Ripening
Sold from the eleventh day after renneting
Size
Square-based truncated pyramid; at least 40% dry matter; more than 90 g (large) or 45 g (small) of dry matter

Related ferments

Variants

  • Large ValençayMould base 50–55 mm; more than 90 g dry matter
  • Small ValençayMould base 40–44 mm; more than 45 g dry matter

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

Goats in the Berry appear in Charlemagne's capitularies and 16th-century archives of La Châtre. The specification says Talleyrand, lord of the Château de Valençay, changed the mould to a cut pyramid and brought the cheese to Paris tables; the INAO page tells the story that he had the tops cut off so as not to remind Napoleon of Egypt. Sales spread in the 20th century, and it became an appellation in 1998.

  1. [cdc-vale2014] Ministère de l'agriculture, Cahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine « Valençay », notice AGRT1413739V, in force since Implementing Regulation (EU) No 297/2014 (BO-Agri)spec
  2. [inao-vale] INAO, product page « Valençay » (AOP)gov
  3. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov