Rocamadour
Name of Group of Producers
Maison de l'Agriculture du Lot
Avenue Jean-Jaurès, 430
48004 Cahors Cedex
Champs Elysées, 138
75008 Paris
This is a small goats cheese made of raw, whole goat's milk. It is very soft, with a natural rind made up of an integral, ridged and slightly velvety skin, from white, cream to dark beige in colour and in the form of a small, flat cylinder weighing about 35 g. It contains a minimum level of 45 g of fat per 100 g of cheese after total desiccation and the dry matter weighs no less than 14 g per cheese.
The geographical area covers the zone known as ‘Causses’ at the heart of the Department of Lot, part of which is in the geographical area along with parts of the Departments of Aveyron, Corrèze, Dordogne, Tarn and Garonne.
The milk must be produced, and the cheese must be manufactured and matured in the geographical area. Since it is a soft cheese that coagulates slowly, the curdling process must last for at least 20 hours at a minimum temperature of 18 °C and the cheese must be pre-drained for at least 12 hours. Salting is carried out in the mass. The drained and salted curd is then placed in moulds and the cheeses are ripened for at least six days starting from the day they are removed from the moulds.
The milk is obtained from Alpine or Saanen breeds of goats only, or a cross of these two breeds.
An old lease document dated 1451 drawn up between the regional overlord and his vassals (during the period of the Bishop of Evreux) refers to Rocamadour cheese. More recently, in 1913 President POINCARRÉ had the pleasure of tasting it at a dinner in Cahors organised in his honour by the General Council. Poets and gastronomes have written about Rocamadour, and the diocesan archivist and correspondent for the Ministry of Public Education, in his work entitled ‘Le Vieux Quercy’, wrote in 1929 that ‘the Causse area in Rocamadour is home to a unique and tasty cheese, the like of which cannot be found elsewhere’.
