Sainte-Maure de Touraine

Sainte-Maure de Touraine (AOC 1990, AOP) is the Loire Valley's most iconic chèvre — a 250g log of raw goat's milk cheese pierced through its center with a rye straw that serves both as structural reinforcement and authenticity marker (the producer's name is stamped on the straw). The cheese is made from full-fat raw milk of Alpine or Saanen goats, ladled by hand into cylindrical moulds where it drains for 24-48 hours without pressing — this slow, gravity-driven drainage creates the characteristically fine, mousse-like interior texture. After demoulding, the log is rolled in wood ash (traditionally from vine cuttings or poplar), which raises surface pH and encourages the development of Geotrichum candidum and Penicillium album — the blue-grey natural rind that develops over 10 days of affinage. At minimum 10 days (AOC requirement), the cheese is young, fresh, tangy, with a bright lactic acidity and a creamy paste that becomes increasingly chalky toward the center. At 3-4 weeks, the rind tightens, the paste develops hazelnut and mushroom notes, and the texture densifies from the outside in, creating a characteristic dual-texture: creamy beneath the rind, firmer at the core. At full maturity (6-8 weeks), the entire paste is dense, crumbly, intensely nutty, with an almost truffle-like depth. In the kitchen, young Sainte-Maure is the salad chèvre — sliced into rounds, placed on toast, and grilled until just softening for the classic salade de chèvre chaud. Medium-aged Sainte-Maure is a cheese course cheese, served with walnut bread and a drizzle of Loire honey. The straw should be gently pulled, not cut — a point of etiquette that marks the connaisseur.

• Valençay (Loire ash-coated pyramid)
• Crottin de Chavignol (Loire goat cheese)
• Bucheron (commercial goat log)
• Spanish Garrotxa (ash-rind goat)