Sainte-Maure de Touraine

Appearance & taste

Sainte-Maure de Touraine is sold as a log in the shape of a truncated cone. The rind is blackened with ash; after ten days of ripening it is well formed and bears a layer of mould visible to the naked eye. The cheese cuts cleanly, and the paste is white or ivory, fine, smooth and homogeneous. Each cheese contains at least 100 g of dry matter and at least 45 % fat in dry matter.

The taste is lactic, not too salty and not too acidic, with aromas of dried fruit and vegetal notes such as hay. The texture is creamy to slightly moist and becomes drier and sometimes crumbly with age.

Each cheese has a straw running through it lengthwise, on which at least the name of the designation of origin and a code of the production site are branded. Each cheese bears its own label with the name and the “AOP” mark in the same field of vision.

Production

The milk comes from goats of the Alpine, Saanen and Poitevine breeds or their crosses. At least 75 % of the annual feed ration (825 kg of dry matter per goat) comes from the area; only some feedstuffs, such as dried lucerne, are not sufficiently available there. Each goat has at least 1,000 m² of pasture. Fermented feed is limited to 355 kg of dry matter a year and 1 kg a day, and supplementary feed to at most half of the ration.

The full-fat raw milk is coagulated with a small amount of rennet; this produces a lactic curd, which is poured into moulds in the shape of a truncated cone. The whey drains slowly and naturally. After removal from the mould, the surface is ashed and salted. According to the specification, the ratio of surface to volume allows the typical ripening flora, which gives the cheese its aromas, to settle during ripening. Milk production, cheesemaking and ripening take place in the area.

Origin & history

The area lies in the south-west of the Paris Basin around the historical province of Touraine and is shaped by the Loire and its tributaries. Wide cereal plains alternate with valleys full of hedgerows; the soils are clayey or clay-limestone. The oceanic climate with mild winters and summers allows many fodder and cereal crops to be grown.

Until the middle of the 20th century there were no goat herds here. The poorest rural households kept one to three goats; they were looked after by the grandmother or the youngest daughter, who also made the cheese, at first for her own family. There were no dairies: the work was done in the kitchen and the cheese dried by the fireplace. One mould held one goat’s daily milk, around 2.5 litres; it was originally woven from wicker. Because the long log was fragile, a straw was put into it so that it could be handled more easily. According to the specification, this practical purpose later became a distinguishing feature.