Sainte-Maure Caprifeuille – a goat’s milk cheese from Poitou-Charentes.
Sainte-Maure Caprifeuille is a raw, semi-soft goats milk cheese, with a thin consistent and wrinkled rind with superficial grey-white mould and soft pâte.
Origins of Sainte-Maure Caprifeuille
Sainte-Maure Caprifeuille is a beautiful raw milk goat’s cheese from Celles-sur-Belle in the French region of Poitou-Charentes. In this area, goats are known to graze on rolling hills which are carpeted with fragrant plants.
This cheese is based on the ancient French word “Maure” which means “Noire” (black in English). The Sainte-Noire was a goddess responsible for the harvest and life transformation. That is why the old believers thought that the cheese was ripening thanks to her.
The word “Sainte-Maure” is a generic word for all the goat cheese logs.
Sainte-Maure Caprifeuille production area
Sainte-Maure Caprifeuille is still made in the Poitou-Charentes region. It is made by the dairying cooperative Sèvre & Belle.
The production of Sainte-Maure Caprifeuille
This goat cheese is not a fresh goat cheese; it ripens for about 2 weeks. The aging process uses the same bacteria as Camembert and Brie: Penicillum Candidum. The cheese is hand rolled into a log.
Selection and tasting of Sainte-Maure Caprifeuille
Sainte-Maure Caprifeuille is a cylinder of 250 grams. It complements with white wines such as Sancerre or Sauvignon. To bring out the taste of this slightly aged goat cheese you can add a drip of honey on it.
