Valençay cheese is a goats milk cheese that comes from the Berry, in the area around the town of Valençay. Like the other goats cheeses of the Loire Valley it is a raw milk cheese, coated in ash and salt and eaten at about three weeks old.
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| A Valençay cheese, bought from the cheese truck at Loches market. |
Legend has it that Valençay was originally a classic pyramid-shaped cheese. In order not to remind Napoleon of his defeat in Egypt, Talleyrand, who was then living in the Château de Valençay, had them "beheaded" before offering them to him!
Of course, it's not true, but it's a great story.
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| Pure white inside. |
Only 26 farms produce the green labelled artisanal farmhouse cheese. Red labelled Valencay is also available, produced by half a dozen factories in the area. The two products differ because the farmhouse cheese must only contain the milk from a single 24 hour period, from a single herd (the one on the farm) whereas the factory cheese can contain milk from a 48 hour period from a number of farms. As well as producers there are specialist refiners too, who carefully mature and age the cheese under controlled conditions of temperature, humidity and air movement.
Each cheese weighs around 220 grams, and 340 tonnes of Valencay cheese are produced annually.
The proper way to cut it is from top to bottom, in wedges radiating out from the centre. Our friend, colleague and expert classic Citroen mechanic Jean-Louis does it with practiced ease, with the cheese in one hand and his pen knife in the other.
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5 comments:
I don't recall ever tasting Valençay, but I enjoyed Selles-sur-Cher, Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine and Crottins de Chavignol.
Looks very tempting...
You slice a Valençay or Selles-sur-Cher goat cheese the same way you cut a Camembert or other round cheeses — into wedges. CHM, I can't believe we never had Valençay cheese when you were visiting. Mea culps.
Oh, and I object to the word "factories" when it comes to cheeses. They are dairies and often small — laiteries in French to distinguish them from dairy farms — but cheeses are not manufactured. Many laiteries are cooperatives, in which groups of small-scale farmers join together in order to make high-quality products at more affordable prices that can be more widely distributed. It's the same with wine coops. The proof of the pudding is in the tasting. Co-op cheeses and wines are often at least as good as fromages fermiers, and sometimes better. Every cheese, every wine, is different.
It's one of our favourites. Can't wait to eat it again......
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