Chèvre: the French fries of goat cheese

Although chèvre is not necessarily a French cheese, the word chèvre (the French word for goat) has become the common term to describe any fresh goat cheese. Why would they do this?

A marketing name

I read somewhere that it was basically a marketing technique that, at the same time, it created a brand for fresh goat cheese, which you might find in the grocery store, and it got people’s minds off of the fact that it is made with goat’s milk. As we all know, goat’s milk can be kind of gamey for “less worldly” or inexperienced cheese consumers.

Log of herbed fresh chèvre beside slices of almond and raisin biscotti on a wooden board

Flavors and variety

As simply ordinary as “fresh goat cheese” sounds there exists within this category of cheese a ton of variety of different types of chèvre. There can be any number of different flavors ranging from very mild goat flavor to very strong goat flavor; and, often times much like this here featured cheese is made with seasonings to compliment the overall flavor. Montchevré alone produces chèvre in flavors like Lemon Zest, Sundried Tomato & Basil, Four Peppers, Peppadew, Honey, Cranberry Cinnamon, Natural, Garlic & Herb

A French name for a Wisconsin cheese

So, next time you’re in the supermarket and want have a short yet fleeting French encounter: go directly to the cheese aisle and get only the best Chèvre. Sure, it may say on the label that it was made in Belmont, Wisconsin—which this cheese so happens to be—but let your imagination do the walking. Walk right over to the bread too because fresh goat cheese goes great with bread.

Fresh goat cheese spread on crisp almond-raisin toasts on a wooden board

Tasting it

The taste is pretty decent and the goat flavor is definitely not that overpowering. You will need to be careful because there are varying degrees of intensity of flavor depending on the cheese manufacturer. Try a couple different flavors and find out which one is your favorite.

On the side

The crackers in these photos are actually really great. They are almond cheese biscuits from Daelia’s Biscuits for Cheese. The hazelnut ones are probably the best, but they are much harder to come by, however, they do carry them at Whole Foods Market.