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Milk type
Goat
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Region of origin
Centre-Val de Loire
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Cheese type
Soft cheese bloomy rind
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Heat treatment
Raw milk
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Country of origin
France
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Type of production
Farmstead
AUZANNE CENDRÉE
A farmhouse raw milk goat cheese, shaped like a truncated pyramid under a fine coat of ash, the unofficial cousin of Valençay. Made in Indre (Centre-Val de Loire).
Net weight: 200 g.
Auzanne Cendrée owes its distinctive shape to a Napoleonic legend: returning from the Egyptian campaign, Napoleon Bonaparte is said to have been so irritated by the little pyramid served to him at the Château de Valençay that he sliced off its top with his sword. To keep tighter control over ageing, Hervé Mons chose to collect this farmhouse raw milk goat cheese just 4 days after production, rather than the 10 days required under the Valençay AOP rules. No longer able to use that name, it became the Auzanne Cendrée, though the taste hasn't changed one bit.
Renneting is light and coagulation slow, taking a full 24 hours. The curd is ladled into the moulds in several passes, with draining pauses in between, then the surface is smoothed off. Salting and ashing, dry salt mixed with vegetable ash, happen two days later, once the cheese is unmoulded.
After a spell in the drying room, the cheeses are aged on beds of rye straw, turned onto different sides to even out the ageing across every face.
- Farmhouse cheese, handmade
- Raw milk from goats, GAEC des Cabrioles (Indre)
- Truncated pyramid shape, fine ash-coated rind
- Unofficial cousin of Valençay, renamed by Hervé Mons
- Aged on beds of rye straw
Under its fine, evenly ash-coated rind, which can turn slightly blue with age, the paste is white, fine and gentle, dense at first bite then turning melting. The nose is goaty, with notes of woodland and fresh milk; on the palate, it's mildly goaty and lightly nutty. Its elegant shape makes it a lovely centrepiece on a cheeseboard, but it works just as well in the kitchen, in savoury pastries, gratins or tarts. Pair it with a slice of poppy-seed baguette, alongside a floral white (Valençay, Montlouis), a rosé, or a wheat beer.
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TOMME DE TARENTAISE
- Cow
- Auvergne Rhône-Alpes
- Uncooked pressed cheese
- Raw milk
- France
- Artisanal
