Saint Maure de Touraine
This is the classic goat cheese originating from the Loire region of France and has been made there in much the same way for over one thousand years.
It can be easily recognized by its long form and small log-like shape.
This simple log shape or 'Buche' has been copied throughout the world, so it is no surprise that so many goat cheeses in our supermarkets today are presented in the familiar log-like tube with the plastic robes.
Our focus for this month will be a very specific cheese "Saint Maure de Touraine." While the name Saint Maure is not protected and is used for cheese from other countries in similar log like shapes, Saint Maure de Touraine has been protected by a specific AOC designation since 1990. (AOC translates from French to mean Controlled Name of Origin.)
Saint Maure de Touraine cheese has the highest production of any goat cheese in all of France and originally had no protection until 1990.
It was a recent re-read of one of my favorite books by Patrick Rance titled simply "French Cheese" (unfortunately only a small amount were printed and it has long been out of print but still shows up in used book stores) that had me thinking of writing this recipe page for this cheese.
In reading the book "French Cheese" Rance talks about his first adventures into the St Maure area during the 1950's when the cheeses in the market were all natural rinds and it was not the practice to add ash or charcoal to the surface of the cheese but to just allow the natural drying off and mold formation to develop depending on the particular ripening environment. He noted that there was an incredible variation in the cheeses he saw and tasted, ranging from rouge to grey to blue-black - all most likely due to moisture levels and the native molds where they were aged.
By the time he was writing his book in the mid 1980's many of these cheeses were now being treated with ash/charcoal and more salt than was needed and the character of the cheese was not what it had been. He felt that the salt overshadowed the qualities of the milk.