A small cylindrical goat cheese from the village of Chavignol near Sancerre, sold at every stage of aging from fresh and soft to fully dried and crumbly. One of the Loire's signature goat cheeses, granted Appellation d'Origine Controlee in 1976, with a 16th-century lineage in the Sancerrois.
Crottin de Chavignol is a small goat cheese named for the village of Chavignol, near Sancerre in the Cher department of the Loire Valley. Wikipedia dates its origin to the sixteenth century in the Sancerrois region. It received its Appellation d'Origine Controlee in 1976, with the European Protected Designation of Origin following; the designation restricts production to a defined zone around Sancerre and requires goat's milk from regional breeds. Sold at every stage of aging — frais, jeune, demi-sec, sec, and the fully dried bleu — each stage has a distinct texture and use.
A young Crottin de Chavignol is soft, white, and creamy, with a fresh lactic tang; as it ages it firms, dries, and deepens to a nutty, goaty intensity, the rind developing a blue-grey bloom. At its driest — the bleu stage — it is crumbly and pungent, almost a seasoning rather than a table cheese. The flavor at every stage carries the characteristic medium-chain fatty acids of goat's milk: capric, caprylic, and caproic, the source of the unmistakable tang.
Crottin de Chavignol is a small lactic-set goat cheese. Lactic acid bacteria acidify the milk, coagulating it slowly with a small amount of rennet; the fragile curd is ladled into small cylindrical molds and drained naturally. The high acidity and the goat-milk structure give the delicate texture. As the cheese ages, two processes reshape it: moisture loss through evaporation concentrates the flavor and hardens the paste from soft-creamy to crumbly-nutty, and continued enzymatic lipolysis releases the medium-chain fatty acids — capric, caprylic, caproic — that intensify the goaty tang. These three fatty acids are present in goat's milk at far higher levels than in cow's milk; they are the chemical basis of the goat flavor that defines the cheese and all Loire goat cheeses.
Variations
Sold at multiple ages: frais (about 8 days), jeune, demi-sec, sec, and the fully dried bleu; each is used differently — fresh in salads, dried shaved or cooked.
On the Palate
Where Crottin de Chavignol sits in the French flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 20How it's made
6 steps · 30 min
- 115 min
Warm goat's milk and add lactic starter; let acidify.
- 215 min
Add a small amount of rennet and let the curd set very gently.
Watch outAdd only a little rennet and let the curd set very gently — this is a lactic, fragile set; too much rennet or rough handling and the delicate texture is lost.
- 330 min
Ladle the curd into small cylindrical molds and drain naturally, without pressing.
- 415 min
Demold, salt the surfaces, and age in a humid cellar.
- 530 min
Release at the desired stage — from frais in about eight days to sec or bleu after weeks.
Watch outAge until it reaches the stage you want — moisture loss firms it from soft-creamy to crumbly-nutty, so judge by feel: soft frais early, dry and firm after weeks.
- 65 min
Sell or use by stage: fresh in salads, dried shaved over dishes or baked on tarts.
