World Cheese Encyclopaedia - Each Sunday learn all about a cheese in season.
This week Bûcheron from France.
Country: France 🇫🇷
Region: Poitou, Loire Valley
Made from: Goat 's Milk
Pasteurised: Yes
Texture: Fudgy and spreadable when warm, but with crumble capability
Taste: Bight grassy
Certification: No
Aging: 5 – 10 weeks
Bûcheron (sometimes Boucheron, Bucherone, Boucherond, or Bucherondin) is a goat's milk cheese native to the Loire Valley in France. Semi-aged, ripening for 5 to 10 weeks, Bûcheron is produced as short logs that are sliced and sold as small rounds in food stores. Named for its shape, a log, that promotes the ideal ratio of ripe creamline and flaky center, and is just the right form to slice off big slabs, Bûcheron is the bloomy-rind goat cheese that taught you to love, perhaps obsess over, this style. With a texture that will crumble when you need crumbles and spread when you need spreading, the bright grassiness of its fudgy paste and tender rind remind you why we just can’t stop talking about goat cheese.
Bûcheron has an ivory-colored pâte surrounded by a bloomy white rind. Soft, but semi-firm in texture, this cheese when young has a mild taste and it has a harder texture. As it ages, is gets a softer texture and a sharper, more intense taste. A fat, sometimes inch thick, creamline forms beneath the downy, edible white rind- a perfect visual of surface ripening in action. The large format means that the creeping goo will never reach the center, so there's always fresh, fluffy, lemony chèvre left for contrast.
History
Bucheron was one of the first French goat cheeses exported to the United States, kickstarting a national obsession with the traditional Loire Valley style of chevre. Sevre at Belle, a dairy cooperative in the Loire Valley adjacent Poitou-Charentes, has been making Bucheron for over a century.
How to enjoy it
Any dry, flinty blanc from its home of the Loire Valley will pair well with Bucheron. Spread Bucheron on long slices of baguette and send them to toast under the broiler. Served piping hot or at a comfortable room temperature, these goat-toasts are the perfect garnish for any salad, from the simple greens-and-dressing to that busy with nuts and dried fruits. Roasted vegetables, regardless of the season, become vivid with a crumble and toss of Bucheron. Cut beautiful rounds for a cheese board and serve with a dark honey like the resinous Rigoni Italian Forest Honey, and some toasted walnuts.
Source: DiBruno Bros, 201Cheeses.com, Wikipedia, Murray’s Cheese