🧀 Picodon

Picodon is a small French goat's cheese with a Protected Designation of Origin from the Ardèche, the Drôme and two neighbouring cantons. It is made from raw whole goat's milk. It is a little disc 5–7 cm across with a thin rind under white, bluish or grey mould and a clean goaty taste with notes of nuts and mushroom. ³

Where it comes from. The area covers every commune of the Ardèche and Drôme departments, the canton of Barjac in the Gard and the canton of Valréas in the Vaucluse. These are the hills above the middle Rhône valley. ³ Soils are poor, water and flat land are scarce, and the climate shifts from Mediterranean in the south to semi-continental in the north. Goats were kept on dry slopes where cows could not cope. ³

Goats and feed. The milk comes only from Alpine, Saanen, Massif Central, Provençal and Rove goats and their crosses. Keeping the herd indoors all the time is forbidden. ³⁴ All roughage must come from the area and silage is banned. Supplementary feed is capped at 390 kg per goat per year, so at least 67% of the diet comes from the area. ³

How it is made. A little rennet is added at 20–25 °C, and a lactic curd forms over 16–36 hours. ⁴ It is ladled by hand into moulds without pre-draining, turned, and dry-salted on both sides. The cheese dries for at least 24 hours, then ripens in a humid room for at least 8 days at 12 °C or more. It may be called Picodon only 12 days after the rennet was added. ³⁴

Look and taste. The cheese is 1.8–2.5 cm high, weighs at least 60 g and has at least 45 g of fat per 100 g of dry matter. ³ Young, it is smooth and close; after long ripening it turns brittle. The taste is direct and goaty, with nut and a light mushroom note, sometimes piquant, but not too salty or acid. ³ The producers' association describes the stages: from 12 days to a month the cheese is supple, after a month dry and sharper. ⁸

"Affiné méthode Dieulefit". For this version the cheese is kept for at least 15 days in humid cold until it turns blue, then washed several times and closed up again. The Dieulefit method requires at least two washings. It may be sold only after 30 days. ³⁴ It is smaller, from 45 g, with a marbled paste. ³ This is how cheese was kept for winter: stored in jars and washed every 15 days. ³ The association says Dieulefit cheeses are washed with clean water, and "affiné lavé" ones with wine. ⁸

History and name. As early as 1600 Olivier de Serres wrote about the place of goats here, and from 1866 the Drôme and Ardèche were France's first and third goat departments. ³ The producers' association derives the name from Occitan pichot, "small", and translates the Provençal picaoudou as "little piquant cheese". ⁸⁹ The cheese got national protection in 1983 as "Picodon de l'Ardèche ou Picodon de la Drôme", and under that name entered the EU register in 1996. ¹²³ In 2009 the name was shortened to "Picodon". ⁵ New rules in 2016 banned thermised milk and gave two dairies until the end of 2016 to adapt. ⁶⁷

How much is made. According to figures published by a trade journal in 2023, 561 t of Picodon were made in 2022. Farms made 121 t, companies 323 t and affineurs 117 t. Some 9.4 million cheeses were sold, 300,000 of them by the Dieulefit method. In Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes a cheese cost on average €2.41. ⁷

Picodon or Pelardon? They are different goat's cheeses with their own names and rules. Picodon is made only from raw whole goat's milk in the Ardèche, the Drôme and two neighbouring cantons: a little rennet is added at 20–25 °C, a lactic curd forms over 16–36 hours, and it is ladled by hand into moulds without pre-draining. After salting it dries for at least 24 hours and ripens for at least 8 days. The name may be used only 12 days after the rennet was added.

On the label look for the word Picodon with a red sun, the AOP logo (the EU's protected designation of origin) and the words for raw goat's milk cheese. When the maker sells directly there may be no separate label, but the same details must be on a sign. A disc is 5–7 cm across, so it is a small cheese. You will meet it at farm stalls, markets and cheese counters. “Affiné méthode Dieulefit” on the pack means the washed, blue-marbled version.

Why it matters to you. On the label look for the word Picodon with a red sun, the AOP logo and the words for raw goat's milk cheese. ¹⁰ When the maker sells directly there may be no separate label, but the same details must be on a sign. ³ Choose by age: young cheese is softer and fresher, one aged over a month sharper, and washed cheeses the boldest. ⁸ It is always a raw-milk cheese. ³⁶