Banon cheese

Banon cheese, like many French food items, gets its name from the little Provençal hill village where it was first produced—a place where wild goats once grazed. In order to maintain the tradition of this product, Banon cheese has its own protected appellation (AOC or appellation d'origine contrôlée). This ensures that consumers receive genuine cheese created at its source with the necessary gourmet know-how (through AOC Banon). This includes 179 towns in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Hautes-Alpes, Vaucluse, and Drôme departments, which surround Banon.

The tradition behind this cheese dates back to the farmers who looked after the cattle in Banon's grasslands and wrapped and stored it so that it could be consumed all year round rather than just when the milk was fresh. Since it is typically wrapped in chestnut leaves and fastened with a strand of raffia, this cheese is also known as Banon à la feuille, which translates to Banon in a leaf. A semi-bloomy crust surrounds a round, unpasteurized goat's milk cheese with a pleasant curd inside. It has a smooth, creamy, and strong flavor.