Dairy
Banon
Banon is a small round goat cheese from Provence, wrapped in chestnut leaves and tied with raffia after a brief pre-ripening so the leaves perfume and protect the curd. The paste is soft and creamy under a pale rind, with lactic sweetness, mild goat character, and earthy, woody notes absorbed from the leaf wrapping during further ageing. Unwrap at the table and spoon or spread onto bread; the leaf packet is part of the cheese’s identity rather than mere packaging. AOP Banon requires goat’s milk from the defined Alpes-de-Haute-Provence zone and the traditional chestnut-leaf envelope that sets it apart from unwrapped crottins.
Also known as: Banon
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History
Leaf-wrapped soft cheeses from the Banon area of Provence appear in regional pastoral and market records.
Banon received AOC protection requiring chestnut-leaf wrapping and local goat’s milk.
PDO recognition confirmed Banon as Provence’s leaf-wrapped protected goat cheese.