Goats’ Cheese

Goats’ cheese is produced all over the Mediterranean, although we tend to think of it as being French. The most superior chèvre is said to come from Poitou and the Vendée, where goats - known as les vaches des pauvres (‘poor men’s cows’) — are kept for their milk. Goats are raised and milked in every Mediterranean country, even though they produce only 4 litres of milk a day at best, for goats are notoriously temperamental (the word capricious comes from the Latin for goat) They do, however, have the benefit of being able to thrive in the most arid and inhospitable conditions.