Valençay

Appearance & taste

Valençay has the shape of a truncated pyramid with a square base. The moulds measure 50 to 55 mm inside at the lower base, the small ones 40 to 44 mm. A large cheese contains over 90 g of dry matter, a small one over 45 g; dry matter makes up at least 40 % of the cheese. Because of the vegetable charcoal, the bloom on the surface is light grey to bluish grey. The cheese leaves the ripening premises only when the whole surface is covered by this bloom with a clearly visible mycelium, and on the eleventh day after renneting at the earliest.

The paste is homogeneous, smooth, fine and porcelain white. At the start of ripening it is creamy and melting, later firmer, but it stays supple in the mouth. It smells lightly of goat, undergrowth and mushrooms with floral nuances. The goat flavour is very delicate at first and becomes stronger over time.

Valençay is sold to consumers by the piece. Each cheese bears its own label with the name in large letters, the words “Appellation d’Origine Protégée” and the EU symbol. Cheeses from the small mould also bear the word “petit” (small), which may neither be attached directly to the name nor appear directly above it.

Production

The milk comes from goats of the Alpine and Saanen breeds or their crosses. Per goat and year, at least 820 kg of feed dry matter comes from the area, including at least 655 kg of roughage as green fodder, hay or dried fodder. Supplementary feed is limited to 440 kg of dry matter a year, and at most 12 goats may be kept per hectare of forage area. Silage is prohibited, as are genetically modified crops on the farm’s land and in the feed.

Raw, unstandardised whole goat’s milk is processed. It ripens before renneting and is coagulated with lactic acid bacteria and a little rennet. The curd is ladled gently into the moulds without stirring and without first separating the whey; the whey drains off by itself, without pressing. After removal from the mould, the cheese is salted and dusted on all sides with vegetable charcoal. During slow ripening a surface mould covers it. Milk production, cheesemaking and ripening take place in the area.

Origin & history

The area forms Bas-Berry with four agricultural sub-regions: Boischaut Nord as the historical core, Champagne Berrichonne, Brenne and Boischaut Sud. The soils are more or less stony loams as well as clay and limestone soils. The oceanic climate has continental features, with 650 to 750 mm of rain a year, falling mainly in April, May and June; the summers are rather dry. This favours grass and legumes, especially lucerne, which as hay forms the basis of the goats’ feed.

Goats in Berry are documented in old writings such as the capitularies of Charlemagne and 16th-century archives of the town of La Châtre. Various writings, from Talleyrand, the lord of the Château de Valençay, through the First Empire to George Sand, mention the flavour and fineness of the cheese, which was traditionally made on the farm and for local consumption. According to the specification, Talleyrand played an important role in the move to the truncated-pyramid shape and helped bring the cheese to the tables of the Parisian aristocracy. It only became truly popular under the name “Valençay” in the 20th century. According to the specification, it is the only goat’s cheese of the region in this shape that is dusted with ash and has a bloomy rind.