Tarentais (Petit Blaja)

Tarentais (also known as Petit Blaja) is only made for five to six months each summer because the producers still carry out the traditional ‘transhumance’ – a seasonal migration of their animals up the mountain once the snow has melted.  The rich, floral, alpine pastures, covered with snow for half the year, add a great depth to flavour of the cheese.

This uniquely-made goats’ milk cheese is made on alpages at 1850 metres (over 6000 feet), close to Les Arcs.  It was created 70 years ago because the commune pasture here was too steep for the cows needed for Beaufort production, so goats (which could cope with the terrain) were farmed instead.  The cheese was created as a way to store the goats’ milk up the mountain.

Gabi and Soizic’s herd of goats numbers 100; they sit with them all day on the mountainside before returning to their chalet each night.  Here the goats are milked and the cheese is made, a true expression of the mountain herbs and flowers on which the goats graze.  Tarentais is a lactic-style, but made with several days curd.  It ages for three months or more, forming a natural yeast rind that gently breaks down the interior paste.

Read about the fabulous Tarentais cheese producers from The Courtyard Dairy’s recent visit, click here.