Ledger / Soft ripened / 2026-10-05
Sainte-Maure: A Log of Goat Curd, Ash, and a Straw Through the Middle
The straw is not decoration. A rye straw pushed through the log holds it in shape while the curd is still soft and lets air reach the centre so the log dries evenly from the inside out. Without it, the middle sours and the ends dry hard.
Each segment is as wide as its share of the 2100 minutes in the vat; the set segment carries the set temperature, the cut segment carries the cut size.
Salt and press drawer
Press ladder
Vegetable charcoal dusted on at 3-5 g per kg before the rind closes. Raises surface pH and slows the bloom.
Fifteen hours at 22 C
0.5% mesophilic culture at 22 C with 30 IMCU of rennet per litre, stirred in for ten seconds, then left completely alone for fifteen hours. Goat milk at this temperature and this low a rennet dose gives a curd that is essentially a soft gel.
Do not warm it to hurry it. Above 24 C the Lactococcus outruns the texture and you get a sour, chalky curd that will not drain to the right firmness.
Ladle into logs, straw, then drain
Ladle into log-shaped moulds 18 cm long and 5 cm across, filled in three passes over four hours. Push a sterilised rye straw through the centre of each at the second fill, when the curd is firm enough to hold the hole but soft enough to close around it.
Drain at 20 C for twenty hours, turning the moulds at eight and sixteen hours. The logs are ready when they hold a fingerprint for a second and then spring back.
Salt, ash, and let the rind set
Salt at 2.0% over the whole surface and rest at 14 C for twelve hours. Then roll each log in vegetable ash, 4 g per log, covering the ends as well as the sides. The ash raises the surface pH and slows the white mould, which is why a Sainte-Maure has a thinner, greyer coat than a Crottin.
The ash must go on after the salt, never before. Ash first blocks the salt and the log sours from the inside within a week.
Four weeks, and eat it at the right end
Age at 12 C and 88% RH for four weeks, turning every second day. At two weeks the log is chalky all through and tastes of lemon and fresh milk. At four weeks the ends have softened and the centre is still firm; that contrast along the length is the point of the shape.
If it goes to a full six weeks the whole log runs and the flavour turns to ammonia. Cut it in half at three weeks and eat one half then; the other half will be a different cheese at five.
Aging parameters
| Milk | Goat milk 3.8% fat |
|---|---|
| Culture | Mesophilic 20–30 °C |
| Rennet | Calf rennet (animal) 30 IMCU/L |
| pH at drain | 4.35 target 6.1–6.5 |
| Target moisture | 64 % |
| Cave temperature | 12 °C |
| Cave humidity | 88 % |
| Aging days | 28 days |
| Rind treatment | Ash coating |
| Yield | 0.8 kg |
Goat milk Soft ripened 28 days
Defect diagnosis
Flagged on this make: Misread surface mould
Bitterness not seen
Signal — A harsh, lingering bitter note at the back of the palate, strongest in the first three weeks and often fading after six.
Cause — Too much rennet for the set time, or a microbial coagulant with high protease activity, or a scald that never got past 38 C.
Fix — Cut the dose by 20% next make and hold the scald 2 C higher for 10 minutes longer. Bitter peptides are water-soluble, so a 12% brine for 24 hours pulls some out.
Rancidity not seen
Signal — Soapy, paint-like smell that hits before the cheese reaches the mouth. Sharp and unpleasant rather than merely strong.
Cause — Free fatty acids released by lipase, usually from raw milk that sat warm too long, or from rennet paste, or from a knife or cloth that carried old milk residue.
Fix — Chill milk to 4 C within two hours of milking and pasteurise anything older than 24 hours. Retire the cloth: boil it, do not just rinse it.
Faulty eye formation not seen
Signal — Either no eyes where the style demands them, or a scatter of irregular slits and cracks instead of round, evenly spaced holes.
Cause — Coliform or yeast contamination from unsanitary brine, or a press that was too cold (below 18 C) so the propionic culture never woke up, or too much salt killing it outright.
Fix — Boil and re-salt the brine to 18-20% between batches, press at 20-22 C for the first six hours, and keep the salt under 1.6% for eye-forming styles.
Misread surface mould seen this make
Signal — A grey-green or black fuzzy patch on a rind that was supposed to be white or orange, or blue speckling on a hard cheese.
Cause — Wild Penicillium and Cladosporium from a cave with moving air and standing humidity. Also from brushing a good rind with a damp, dirty brush.
Fix — Distinguish before you discard: white felt and orange smear are wanted, green fuzz on a hard rind is surface only and rubs off with 3% brine. Black patches that pit the paste mean the wheel is lost.
Four things to carry forward
- 0.5% mesophilic, 30 IMCU/litre, 15-hour set at 22 C
- 18 cm log moulds, filled in three passes over four hours
- Push a rye straw through at the second fill
- Salt 2% then ash 4 g per log, never the other way round