Goat Cheeses
Walk into any French cheese shop and you’ll spot the goat cheeses straight away: little logs, pyramids, flat discs and small round buttons, some snow white, some dusted with grey ash, some wearing a delicate wrinkled rind. In French we just call them chèvre, which is also the word for the goat animal itself, and I think France makes the best in the world (I may be a little biased).
What most people know as goat cheese is the soft, tangy log from the supermarket, and that’s a good start, but traditional French goat cheese goes much further. A fresh one is light and lemony, a ripened one picks up notes of hazelnut and mushroom under its rind, and an old one turns firm, crumbly and full of flavour, all from the same milk and the same small shapes.
You’ll find them all over France, from the Loire Valley, which has five AOP goat cheeses on its own, to Burgundy, Poitou, the Rhône valley, Provence and the Alps, and on small farms scattered all over the countryside. A slice on bread, a warm round on a salad or a ripe pyramid on a board with a glass of Loire white wine are all good ways to start getting to know them.
So what is goat cheese, exactly? It’s cheese made from goat’s milk, and in France most goat cheese is made by slowly souring the milk for about a day rather than setting it quickly with rennet. That gives a soft, delicate, bright white curd that’s eaten fresh or ripened for a few weeks into small cheeses with a natural rind.
Table of Contents
What is French goat cheese?
In French, goat cheese is fromage de chèvre, cheese from the goat, usually shortened to chèvre. Goat cheese is made all over the world, but French chèvre follows old farmhouse techniques that give it textures, rinds and flavours you won’t easily find elsewhere.
Goat’s milk has a lighter, slightly tangy taste, and it makes cheese that’s naturally white. Most French goat cheeses are small, soft-paste cheeses, eaten anywhere from a few days to a few weeks old, though you’ll also find firm, pressed goat cheeses from the mountains and the south-west. More than a dozen French goat cheeses are protected by an AOP, which fixes where and how they’re made, and there are hundreds of farmhouse goat cheeses that have no label at all.
Very fresh goat cheese (chèvre frais) also belongs to the fresh cheese family, which has its own fresh cheese guide. This guide covers goat cheese from fresh all the way to well aged, and you’ll find the individual cheeses in their own articles, linked in the collection section further down.
Why is goat cheese so white?
Cow’s milk contains beta-carotene, the orange pigment from grass, which is what gives butter and many cow’s milk cheeses their yellow colour. Goats turn almost all the beta-carotene they eat into vitamin A instead, so their milk, and the cheese made from it, stays bright white.
That’s why a fresh goat cheese looks almost like chalk, and why a goat cheese on a mixed board is so easy to spot. As it ages, the paste stays white or ivory, and only the rind changes colour, turning cream, grey or blue-grey as moulds grow on it.
Why does goat cheese taste tangy?
Part of the tang comes from the milk, which contains more of certain fatty acids (named, rather fittingly, caproic, caprylic and capric acids, from capra, the Latin for goat) than cow’s milk. They’re what give goat cheese its distinctive “goaty” note, which gets stronger as the cheese ages.
The rest comes from the way most French goat cheese is made. Because the milk is soured slowly by lactic cultures, the curd ends up quite acidic, which gives fresh goat cheese its bright, lemony taste. As the cheese ripens, moulds on the rind gradually reduce that acidity, so the tang softens and nutty, mushroomy flavours take over.
Why are many goat cheeses covered in ash?
The grey or black coating you see on many French goat cheeses is vegetable charcoal, mixed with salt and dusted over the cheese after draining. It was originally a practical habit (some say to protect the cheese in the days when it was dried near the fire) and it’s still used today because it helps the cheese ripen well.
The ash is alkaline, so it reduces the acidity on the surface of the cheese, which makes it easier for the good moulds to settle in and form an even rind. It also gives the cheese a striking look when cut, with a thin dark line between the rind and the white paste. It’s completely edible and has very little taste of its own.
Explore the goat cheeses collection
This guide covers the basics. For a closer look at individual cheeses, our collection articles each feature five varieties, with tasting notes and where to find them:
The defining characteristics
What makes goat cheese distinct?
- Rind: None on fresh cheese, then a thin, wrinkled, cream to grey rind, sometimes ash-coated or with a white bloom, getting darker with age.
- Aroma: Fresh milk and lemon when young, then hazelnut, mushroom, hay and a “goaty” note that grows with age.
- Texture: Soft and spreadable when fresh, smooth and slightly dense when ripened, chalky in the centre, then firm and crumbly when old.
- Flavour: Bright and tangy at first, becoming nutty, earthy and more savoury as it ages.
- Making: Slow lactic souring of the milk over about a day, a soft curd ladled into small moulds, drained without pressing, salted, and eaten fresh or ripened for a few days to several weeks.
How French goat cheeses are made
Most French goat cheese relies on lactic coagulation, a slow, gentle way of turning milk into curd that sets it apart from most other cheese families.
1. Preparing the milk
Goat’s milk is used on its own, raw on many farms and pasteurised in most dairies. It’s kept fairly cool, around 18 to 22°C (64 to 72°F), much cooler than for most cheeses, which suits the slow souring that comes next.
2. Slow souring
Lactic cultures are added, along with just a little rennet. Over about a day, the cultures turn the milk sugar into lactic acid, and the milk slowly sets into a very soft, fragile curd, more like a set yoghurt than the firm curd of other cheeses.
3. Ladling and draining
The curd is gently ladled, never cut, into small perforated moulds, by hand on many farms. It drains under its own weight for a day or two, with no pressing at all, and the cheeses are turned so the whey runs out evenly.
4. Salting and Ashing
Once out of the moulds, the cheeses are salted, usually by sprinkling dry salt over the surface. For ash-coated cheeses, this is when the mix of vegetable charcoal and salt is dusted or rolled onto the outside. Fresh cheeses are packed and sold at this stage.
5. Ripening
Cheeses that are going to be ripened move to cool, humid rooms, around 10 to 14°C (50 to 57°F). Within a few days, a yeast-like fungus called Geotrichum candidum starts to cover the surface, forming the thin, wrinkled rind, sometimes joined by white or blue-grey moulds. The rind reduces the acidity and builds the nutty, mushroomy flavours, and after two or three weeks the cheese is ripe, while some are left for much longer to dry and harden.
Fresh, ripened or aged: the stages of goat cheese
Goat cheese changes faster than almost any other cheese, and the same little round can taste completely different from one week to the next. So when buying goat cheeses, it will keep ripening in your fridge, just keep that in mind.
- Fresh (frais), a few days old: Pure white, with no rind, soft and spreadable like a thick cream cheese. The flavour is light, milky and lemony, with only a gentle goaty note. This is fresh chèvre at its simplest.
- Young ripened, around two to three weeks: A thin, wrinkled rind has formed, and the paste is smooth and dense, still soft under the rind. You start to taste fresh milk, lemon and a little hazelnut, and this is the classic stage for most French goat cheeses.
- Mid-aged, around three to five weeks: The rind is fully developed and often turning grey-blue. The paste becomes chalky in the centre while staying creamy under the rind, and the flavours deepen into hazelnut, mushroom and damp earth, with a stronger goaty character.
- Aged, six weeks and more: Hard, dry and crumbly right through, with a dark grey rind. The flavour is strong and long, with walnut, barnyard and earthy notes, and some are firm enough to grate.
The spectrum of French goat cheese
French goat cheeses come in more shapes than any other family, and the shape, the rind and the age all change the way they taste.
By shape
Logs
Long cylinders that ripen evenly along their length, some with a straw running through the middle to hold the soft cheese together.
Small rounds
Little drums that ripen quickly and can become very firm and concentrated if they’re left to age.
Pyramids
Tall or with a flat top, a traditional shape that drains well and ripens slowly towards the centre.
Discs
Flat rounds with a large surface, which gives plenty of room for the rind and the ash to do their work.
Domes and buttons
Tiny cheeses that are usually eaten young and stay fairly mild.
By texture
Soft-paste
Most French goat cheeses, from fresh and spreadable to ripened and dense.
Firm and pressed
Less common, made like the uncooked pressed cheeses in some mountain areas, with a supple paste and a mild, nutty taste.
By rind
Natural
Only salt is added, and the moulds and yeasts of the farm or cellar do the rest, so the rind varies from one cheese to the next.
Wrinkled
The cheese is seeded with Geotrichum candidum, which gives a regular, thin, wrinkled rind that looks a little like a brain.
Ash-coated
Dusted with vegetable charcoal and salt after draining, for a grey or black rind and a dark line under it.
Bloomy
Covered in a soft white mould, like a small bloomy rind cheese, but with goat’s milk tang underneath.
Herb-coated
Rolled in herbs, pepper or flowers, usually when fresh, with savory, thyme or black pepper among the favourites.
How to buy French goat cheese
With goat cheese, the age of the cheese matters as much as which one you choose, so it’s worth knowing how to tell them apart.
What to look for
- The rind: A ripened goat cheese should have an even, dry rind, wrinkled, white, grey or blue-grey depending on the cheese. Avoid rinds that are sticky, wet, orange or pulling away from the paste.
- The paste: It should be bright white or ivory, never yellowish or grey, and either smooth and moist (young) or chalky and firm (older).
- The feel: You only need a gentle press. If it’s soft and yielding, it’s young and fresh, if you feel a little resistance with some give, it’s nicely ripened, and if it’s hard all the way through, it’s fully aged and intense.
- The smell: Fresh milk, lemon and a light goaty note are good signs. A sour, bitter or ammonia smell means it’s been kept too long.
Reading the labels
AOP: The cheese comes from a defined area and follows rules on the milk, the shape and the minimum ripening time. If you see the label, the name already tells you a lot.
Fermier: Farmhouse cheese, made by small producers with milk from their own goats. Laitier means it was made in a dairy with milk from several farms.
Lait cru: Raw milk, which tends to give more depth and flavour. Raw-milk and soft cheeses are generally advised against during pregnancy and for vulnerable people, so check your local health advice.
Frais, demi-sec, sec: Some goat cheeses are sold by stage, with frais (fresh), demi-sec (half-dry, lightly ripened) or sec (dry, well aged).
Buying in the US and the UK: In the US, raw-milk cheeses aged under 60 days can’t be sold, so most French goat cheeses you’ll find there are made with pasteurised milk, and fresh chèvre in the US is usually pasteurised too. In the UK, raw-milk French goat cheeses are easy to find at good cheese shops.
How to store chevre cheese
The fridge is fine for all goat cheeses, and the vegetable drawer is the best spot, as the temperature is steady and it’s slightly more humid than the rest of the fridge. Aim for somewhere between 4 and 7°C (39 and 45°F).
Younger cheeses keep ripening even in the cold, just slowly, so if you buy a nicely ripened cheese and leave it another week, it will be more aged by the time you eat it. That isn’t a problem, but it’s worth keeping in mind when you buy.
Cling film (plastic wrap) is the enemy of a good goat cheese, as it traps moisture and speeds up spoilage. Fresh, soft goat cheese is the exception and needs to be wrapped fairly closely once opened, then kept in a box. Young to mid-aged cheeses with a rind need a little air, so wrap them loosely in cheese paper or baking paper (parchment paper sheets) and change the paper if it gets damp. Fully aged, dry goat cheeses are the least fussy of all and will forgive slightly imperfect wrapping.
If you have an ash-coated cheese, don’t be alarmed when the ash comes off on the paper, which is perfectly normal. Use a fresh piece of paper if it gets messy.
How long does it keep?
Fresh goat cheese keeps for about two to three weeks unopened, or until its use-by date, and around a week once you’ve opened it. Young ripened cheeses are similar, while mid-aged to aged cheeses are more stable and will last three to four weeks in the fridge even after cutting.
Can you freeze goat cheese?
Honestly, it’s not worth it for ripened goat cheese. Freezing breaks down the texture, so you end up with something grainy and watery when it thaws, and the rind doesn’t survive either.
If you have fresh goat cheese you need to use up, you can freeze it for up to two months, but only for cooking, stirred into pasta or mixed into a quiche filling. The texture won’t be right for anything else.
How to serve goat cheese
The most important thing you can do for a goat cheese is take it out of the fridge in time, at least 45 minutes before serving and longer for a dense aged one. Cold goat cheese tastes flat, but once it comes to room temperature the tang mellows, the hazelnut notes come through and the texture becomes what it’s supposed to be.
I think goat cheeses are naturally beautiful to look at, so the logs, pyramids and little rounds don’t need much dressing up. A wooden board, a good cheese knife and a crusty baguette are all you need, and for very crumbly aged cheeses, don’t fight them with a knife, just break them into rustic pieces. Fruit, walnuts and a little honey all work well alongside, as long as the cheese stays the main event.
For wine, the classic French match is a crisp Loire Sauvignon Blanc such as Sancerre, whose acidity and citrus notes suit the tang of goat cheese, and a light red from the Loire is also good with aged ones.
If you’d like to go further with pairings, my cheese and wine tasting e-book walks you through it.
Can you eat the rind?
Yes, the rind on a goat cheese is meant to be eaten. Whether it’s wrinkled, white and bloomy or ash-coated, it’s all part of the cheese, and it’s where a lot of the earthy, mushroomy, hazelnut flavour lives. The ash is edible too and adds only a faint mineral note.
Cooking with chevre
Goat cheese is wonderfully versatile in the kitchen, because it’s creamy, tangy and fresh, and it works in a surprising number of dishes for something so delicate.
Salade de chèvre chaud
The classic French warm goat cheese salad: slices of goat cheese on toasted bread, grilled until soft and golden, then served on dressed salad leaves, often with walnuts and a little honey. I’ve been making it forever and never get tired of it, and both the traditional one and my fried goat cheese salad are staples in our house.
Tarts and quiches
We use goat cheese a lot in quiches and tarts, and we put it on top of our leek tarte tatin, for example. It goes really well with caramelised onions, roasted courgettes (zucchini) or peppers, mushrooms or fresh thyme. Crumble or slice it through the filling, or dot larger pieces on top before baking, and it melts into little pockets of creamy tang.
Stuffed Aubergines
I grew up in the south of France, where aubergines (eggplants) are everywhere, and these stuffed aubergines with goat cheese and honey are what I make for lunch when I want something healthy without spending long in the kitchen. The halves are roasted until very soft, topped with goat cheese and thyme, baked until golden and finished with a drizzle of floral honey. Fresh goat cheese melts into the flesh, while a firmer, aged one holds its shape, and in France one half makes a starter, while two with bread and a green salad make a lovely vegetarian main.
Roasted figs
When my neighbour’s fig tree was heavy with fruit, I filled the figs with goat cheese, walnuts and thyme, drizzled them with honey and roasted them for ten minutes or so, and the result was these roasted figs with goat cheese and honey. A young goat cheese log slices and crumbles neatly into the figs, and they work warm as a starter or an apéritif, or after the main as a cheese course with a little extra honey.
Fig and goat cheese toasts
I first fell for figs and goat cheese in Nice, where my brother and I ate warm figs straight from the trees on our walks in the hills as children. These fig and goat cheese toasts are the quickest way to get that taste back: grilled sourdough spread with soft, fresh goat cheese while it’s still warm, topped with sliced figs, toasted walnuts and honey. Use a young, spreadable chèvre rather than an aged one, and eat them straight away, before the bread goes soft.
Tips for cooking with washed rind cheese
- Fresh for melting, aged for flavour: Fresh goat cheese melts into creamy sauces, while aged ones are better crumbled or grated at the end.
- Slice it cold: Logs slice much more neatly straight from the fridge, especially with a knife dipped in hot water.
- Grill it briefly: Under the grill, goat cheese softens and browns in a few minutes, and too long makes it run and split.
- Balance the tang: Honey, roasted vegetables, beetroot and walnuts all soften the acidity and bring out the nuttiness.
FAQ
What is chèvre?
Chèvre is the French word for goat, and also the everyday name for goat cheese in France, short for fromage de chèvre. In English, chèvre cheese often means the soft, fresh goat cheese sold in logs, but in France it covers every goat cheese, from fresh and spreadable to ripened with a wrinkled rind and aged until firm and crumbly.
What is fresh goat cheese?
Fresh goat cheese, or chèvre frais, is goat cheese eaten just a few days after it’s made, before any rind has formed. It’s pure white, soft and spreadable, with a light, milky, lemony taste and only a mild goaty note. It’s made by slowly souring the milk, draining the soft curd and salting it, and it’s lovely on bread, in salads or melted into pasta.
Why does goat cheese taste goaty?
Goat’s milk contains more caproic, caprylic and capric acids than cow’s milk, fatty acids that give goat cheese its distinctive, slightly animal tang. Fresh goat cheese has only a hint of it, and it gets stronger as the cheese ages. Very fresh, well-handled milk keeps the goaty note gentle, which is why good fresh chèvre tastes clean and lemony rather than strong.
Can you eat the ash on goat cheese?
Yes, the ash on goat cheese is vegetable charcoal mixed with salt, and it’s perfectly safe to eat. It’s dusted on after draining to reduce the acidity on the surface, which helps the rind develop evenly. It has very little taste of its own, perhaps a faint mineral note, and gives the cheese its grey rind and the thin dark line you see when you cut it.
How long does goat cheese last in the fridge?
Fresh goat cheese lasts about two to three weeks unopened, or until its use-by date, and about a week once opened. Young ripened goat cheeses keep for a similar time, while older, drier goat cheeses can last three to four weeks after cutting. Keep fresh cheese closely wrapped in a box, and ripened ones loosely wrapped in cheese paper.
Explore all the cheese families
Final thoughts
French goat cheeses don’t need years of ageing to be special, because they change so quickly, from fresh and lemony to nutty and earthy, in just a few weeks. They’re also a great starting point if you’re new to French cheese, as they’re less intimidating than a strong blue or a washed rind, and the goaty flavour builds gradually, so you can find the stage that suits you.
If you’re just getting into it, start with a young cheese with a thin, developing rind and a hint of hazelnut, try it on bread first and then warm some on toast for a salad. When you’re ready, go a bit further with an aged one that’s starting to crumble and smells earthy and a little funky, so you can taste how far goat cheese can go.
Which French goat cheese do you love most, and do you prefer it fresh or well aged? Tell me in the comments!
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