How does Rigott de Condrieu cheese differ from similar fermented milk products, how is it made? Energy value, benefits and harms when added to the diet. How this variety is eaten, recipes, its history.
Rigott de Condrieu is a soft, unpressed goat cheese made in France in the Rhône province in the Alps, in the Pyla State Park. Texture - crumbly, from soft pasty with short-term maturation to hard crumbling with long-term; color - yellowish-white, aging ivory; aroma - spicy, "goaty", with a hint of fruit and fresh grass; the taste is sweetish-floral, with a young hazelnut flavor. The crust is natural, thin, gray, wrinkled, with white and bluish mold fluff. It is produced in the form of small washers weighing 60-70 g.
How is Rigott de Condrieu cheese made?
Manufacturing is year-round. At dairy factories, options are produced only from goat's milk, and on farms, production is possible in which the original raw materials are mixed with the milk yield of cows in a ratio of 2: 1 or 3: 1. This combination is due to the lack of goats.
They make Rigott de Condrieu cheese, like other varieties of a similar nature (small heads made from goat milk). Collect the evening and morning milk yield, let stand to achieve uniformity. The fat content of milk obtained even from one goat during the day may differ. And in this case, the milk yield of several animals is drained. To get 1 kg of the final product, you need to prepare 6-7 liters of raw materials. Skimming and homogenization is not carried out on farms, but in dairy factories it is possible to place milk in a special installation to increase homogeneity.
Heating is carried out up to 25-26 ° С. Lactic acid bacteria and fungal mold cultures, spores of blue and white mold are poured in. Calcium chloride is not needed, the feedstock is not pasteurized. After distribution over the entire volume of milk, shaking is carried out and rennet is poured in. However, even those farmers who are trying to speed up the process use this ingredient to a minimum.
To prepare Rigott de Condrieu cheese, as in the old recipe, yoghurt from the previous batch is often used for coagulation. The duration of kalya formation is 25-30 hours. All this time, you need to maintain a constant temperature. The curd curd is broken and kneaded until the curd grains are reduced to the size of oats - if you neglect this process, it is impossible to get a crumbly structure.
Allow the curd mass to settle, pour out a part of the whey. The curd is transferred to muslin, where it is wrung out. The cheese mass is laid out in shapes that are more reminiscent of plastic cups with numerous holes. They are necessary so that as much liquid as possible separates during self-pressing. For 2-3 days, the molds are allowed to stand on a drainage mat at a temperature of 17-18 ° C, periodically turning it over (every 2-3 hours).
Then, for 16-24 hours, the already compacted washers are immersed in 20% brine at 16-22 ° C. The degree of salting is estimated by analyzing the acidity of the curd, and then left to dry in the chamber. Necessary conditions: temperature - 16-18 ° С, low humidity - 50-65%. This is the peculiarity of making Rigott de Condrieu cheese - thanks to such a long preparation for ripening, the texture is not soft pasty, but dry and crumbly. The entire drying time is 3-4 days, moisture is removed both from the bottom of the chamber (or pallets under the washers) and from the walls.
If you follow the recipes of cheese makers of the 17th-19th centuries, then preparation for ripening should be carried out in a different way. For drying, the heads were installed on racks located in the valley in such a place that they were well ventilated. Only then were they lowered into the cellars. In order to avoid the introduction of foreign cultures, the cheese was covered with a cloth of rare weaving. And only the appearance of the cells made it possible to observe the necessary sanitary and hygienic conditions.
During fermentation, the microclimate of the chamber is changed: temperature - 10-14 ° C, humidity - 85%. After a week, a thin gray crust with a light fluff forms on the surface, and after 14 days it turns gray-blue. The appearance of the heads at this time is unpresentable: small cakes are covered with greenish spots.
You can taste the dense pasty mass after a short exposure - from 2 to 5 weeks. A semi-ripe variety is considered at the age of 5 weeks - just such a product is popular among consumers. And after 8 weeks of fermentation, the taste of a washer with a gray wrinkled crust and blue spots on the cut can only be appreciated by gourmets. Such heads are specially ordered by expensive shops and restaurants.
Composition and calorie content of Rigott de Condrieu cheese
Despite its relatively low energy value, this variety does not belong to dietary products. It is not worth adding it to the diet after debilitating diseases or abdominal surgeries - it is unlikely that a weakened body will be able to cope with so much mold.
The calorie content of Rigott de Condrieu cheese is 283 g per 100 g, of which:
- Proteins - 20-22 g;
- Fat - 22 g;
- Carbohydrates - 0-1, 2 g.
With short-term maturation, carbohydrates are almost absent, and with prolonged fermentation, their amount increases to 0.9-1.2 g.
The complex of vitamins is represented by tocopherol, thiamine, riboflavin, choline, folates, pyridoxine, folic and pantothenic acid, tocopherol, vitamin PP, which affects blood clotting. The peculiarity of the composition of Rigott de Condrieu cheese is the presence of calciferol and vitamin D, which regulates metabolic processes and the balance of calcium and phosphorus.
Macronutrients that prevail in the mineral complex are calcium and phosphorus. A high content of potassium, magnesium, iron, manganese, selenium and sodium can also be noted. The excess of the latter (up to 1.6 mg per 100 g) is explained by the cooking technology - prolonged wet salting.
Cholesterol is relatively small - 46-53 mg per 100 g. Due to its balanced composition, this substance does not accumulate in the lumen of blood vessels, forming atherosclerotic plaques, but stimulates the production of energy from the received calories.
Useful properties of Rigott de Condrieu cheese
Due to the fact that milk is not heated above 30 ° C during production, nutrients and amino acids are retained in full. Regular consumption of cheese helps to quickly tone up and restore performance, while avoiding weight gain and the formation of cellulite deposits, which is very important for women.
The benefits of Rigott de Condrieu cheese
- Normalizes the processes of respiration and hematopoiesis, stimulates the production of erythrocytes and leukocytes.
- Allows to replenish the reserve of easily digestible milk protein for people with a history of allergy to cow's milk casein.
- Creates favorable conditions for the existence of beneficial flora of the small intestine.
- Increases the protective properties of the epithelium, stimulates the regeneration and production of collagen and elastin.
- Prevents osteoporosis, increases bone strength and improves the quality of synovial fluid.
- Stabilizes blood glucose levels, supports insulin production.
- Helps the body to cope with fractures, inhibits the division of atypical cells.
With regular use, it slows down aging, has a beneficial effect on memory function, promotes short-term memorization, stops anemia and reduces the possibility of exacerbation of gout.
