Goat's milk cheese
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Goat's milk cheese, goats' cheese, goat cheese or chèvre (French for goat) is cheese made from goat milk. Goat cheese comes in a wide variety of forms, although the most common is a soft, easily spread cheese. Goat cheese can also be made in hard aged varieties as well as semi firm cheeses like feta.
Although cow's milk and goat's milk have similar overall fat contents, the higher proportion of medium-chain fatty acids such as caproic, caprylic and capric acid in goat's milk contributes to the characteristic tart flavor of goat's milk cheese. (These fatty acids take their name from the Latin for goat, capra.)[1]
When chèvre is served hot, it is known as chèvre chaud.
It is "kidney friendly" and suitable for those with CKD (Chronic Kidney Disease) as it is very low in potassium.
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[edit] List of goat's milk cheeses by country
[edit] France
France produces a great number of goat's milk cheeses, especially in the Loire Valley and Poitou, where goats are said to have been brought by the Moors in the 8th century.[2] Examples of French Chèvres include Bucheron, Chabis, Couronne Lochoise, Crottin de Chavignol (largest produced goat cheese AOC), Pélardon, Picodon, Pouligny Saint-Pierre, Rocamadour, Sainte-Maure de Touraine, Chabichou du Poitou, Valençay, and Pyramide.
[edit] Spain and Portugal
- Mató is a Catalan fresh cheese made from cow's or goat's milk.
- Castelo Branco is a Portuguese goat's milk cheese.
[edit] United Kingdom
- Pantysgawn is a Welsh goat's milk cheese, and gevrik is a Cornish goat's milk cheese (literally meaning 'little goat').[3]
[edit] Greece
- Greek halloumi, feta, mizithra and anthotyros are traditionally made from a mixture of goat's and sheep's milk. In Greece, goat cheese has a very long history; in the Odyssey, Homer refers to a woman stirring wine with goat cheese to reduce the acidity of the wine.
[edit] Norway
- Brunost, which literally means brown cheese, is made in Norway. It is often sold in the USA under the name Gjetost (goat cheese).
[edit] Italy
[edit] China
- Rubing is a fresh goat cheese from Yunnan Province, resembling the Indian paneer.
[edit] References
- ^ "Capric acid," Chemical LAND21.com. Accessed 26 June 2008.
- ^ "Get your goat you've pulled...", Impressions Magazine, n.d. Accessed 26 June 2008.
- ^ "Gevrik Cheese," practicallyedible.com. Accessed 26 June 2008.
[edit] External links
- Goat Dairy Foods from the University of California, Davis Dairy Research and Information Center
- Article comparing sheep's milk to cow's milk and goat's milk
- La Chèvre : dairy goat journal (French)
- Goat Milk - Composition, physico-chemical and medicinal properties
- Traditional chevre, from France : A write-up on the Loire River Valley region in France and the quality of its chèvre
