Banon Essay

889 Words2 Pages

Banon is a soft natural rind cheese formed into small 100 gram rounds wrapped in chestnut leaves and bound with raffia. Banon’s long colourful history and unique flavour more than compensate for its small size and limited production. Despite stringent guidelines dictating the production of AOC (controlled designation of origin) banon, it is not beyond the scope of a beginning cheesemaker to approximate. Therefore, after laying out some basic information about Banon’s history, origins, wine pairing, and AOC regulations for production, I will give a step by step outline of my own crude attempt at producing this cheese. The description of my process will include commentary on where the recipe I followed from 200 easy homemade Cheese Recipes deviated …show more content…

AOC certifications can apply to wines, cheeses, butters, and other agricultural products based on the concept of terroir (Banon France)(Phillips). The AOC guidelines for Banon cheese hold that only cheese made in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d 'Azur (111 towns of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence , 33 By communes of the Hautes-Alpes , 21 towns of the Drôme and 14 communes in the Vaucluse) can be sold as Banon cheese (Le Banon). Combined, these communities only produce 68 tons of banon annually, making AOC Banon the smallest AOC cheese of France in volume (Banon of Banon …show more content…

Additionally, pasture must provide the majority of the goats (A Rove Goat) food for a minimum of four months of the year with a maximum of two goats per hectare of scrub land or eight goats per hectare of grassland. The fodder fed to the goats during the winter months is also highly controlled: a minimum of 70% of the fodder must come from within the Banon AOC geographic region, and it (An Alpine Goat) must be comprised of only dry forages and “noble grains” (Le Banon). The average herd production can not exceed 850 kg of milk per lactating goat per year (Banon of Banon AOC). After acquiring milk produced under the above guidelines, the milk is heated to between 84.2 - 95 fahrenheit, then the rennet is added. The renneted milk is left to curdle for 1-2 hours before being cut. The curd is then hand ladled into molds (mechanized molding is not allowed). Once the cheese is in the molds, it must be turned at least twice in the first 12 hours. The cheese is demolded and salted after 24 - 28 hours (Le

Open Document