🧀 Pouligny-Saint-Pierre

Pouligny-Saint-Pierre is a French soft goat's cheese with a protected designation of origin (PDO; registered in the EU in 1996, eAmbrosia number PDO-FR-0128), made exclusively from raw whole goat's milk. According to the specification it is shaped like the frustum of a narrow pyramid with a square base. It is produced in 22 listed municipalities of the Indre department, in the Brenne Regional Nature Park.

Milk and making. It is a lactic-curd cheese: the milk curdles slowly, using a lactic starter culture or whey from a previous batch, and the curd drains naturally. At least 75% of the dry matter of the goats' annual ration must come from the zone; grass silage and maize silage are forbidden, and supplementary feed is limited to 40% of the diet.

Ripening. The cheese leaves the ripening room no earlier than the 10th day after renneting and is sold from the 11th day (small format: 9th and 10th day). Fat is at least 45% of dry matter.

Look and taste. The rind is wrinkled, ivory-white and marbled, sometimes slightly bluish, with visible mould. The paste is white, at times with ivory shades, creamy and melting. The taste is balanced, neither too salty nor too acidic, with lactic and fermentative notes and hints of goat, mushroom and hazelnut. There are two sizes: at least 250 g (at least 90 g dry extract) and the small one of at least 150 g.

Labelling and history. The name must appear in bold letters at least two thirds the size of the largest on the label; the word "petit" may be added for the small size, and the EU PDO logo is required. The specification says that in 1972 it became the first goat's cheese with a controlled designation of origin in France, and that the pointed pyramid mould was supposedly inspired by the bell tower of the church of Pouligny-Saint-Pierre.