Crottin
de Chavignol ou Chavignol
Name of Group of Producers
Route de Chavignol, 9
18300 Sancerre
Champs Elysées, 138
75008 Paris
Small white or ivory goat's milk cheese enveloped in a natural surface-mould rind; flat cylindrical shape very slighly convex at the edges; weighs at least 60 grams and contains at least 45% milk fat.
Geographical area: the agricultural region of Pays-Fort-Sancerrois and neighbouring areas.
The herding of goats, which do not have very demanding feeding habits, by grape-growers' wives became traditional in the region in the 16th century. Cheesemaking served to bring in extra money. An 1829 book by Mr. Butet mentions the 'Crottin de Chavignolles'. The epidemics of phylloxera and hoof-and-mouth disease that struck the region's vines and cattle, respectively, encouraged goat herding throughout the twentieth century.
Cheese made exclusively from whole goat's milk; very slightly renneted, obtained primarily by lactic coagulation; moulded, after optional predraining, in truncated cone-shaped moulds; taken out of moulds after 12-24 hours, salted, dried and ripened at least ten days.
