Hi there,
I hope this answers your question (it seems that you can use frozen milk if you don't want to restrict your label to 'fermier')
http://www.sheridanscheesemongers.com/cheese/crottin-de-chavignol-fermier-aoc/This fermier (farmhouse) goat’s cheese is made from raw milk in the Loire, not far from the celebrated wine-village of Sancerre. Dubois-Boulay are one of the three or four family owned affineurs dealing exclusively in Crottin de Chavignol. The production area for the cheese stretches from Sancerre to Berrichonne in Champagne, although the AOC states that all affinage must take place within a strictly delimited AOC area. For this reason there is a preponderance of producers but few affineurs. Dubois-Boulay alone deal with over 200 different cheesemakers.
Although the AOC permits the use of frozen curds, a measure designed to ensure year round availability of goat’s cheese, the use of frozen curds is forbidden in cheeses labelled fermier.Crottin de Chavignol AOC provides a textbook example of the manner in which a cheese can change with age. Furthermore, because the crottin is so small the changes take place over a far shorter length of time than they would for a large cheese such as Comté.
Dubois-Boulay describe four different stages of development in the cheese.
Demi-Sec: aged about 12 days. At this stage the cheese is just barely mature. Lactic flavours predominate and the crottin has yet to develop a real of complexity of flavour.
Bleuté: Aged about three weeks. A white penicillum rind is developing. With age an increasing amount of blue mould appears on the rind. The rind is developing a slightly mushroomy aroma. Inside the milky taste found in demi-sec crottins is replaced by more robust, complex flavours.
Bleu: Aged 1-2 months. The rind is even more fully developed, and blue predominates. A deep goaty flavour is apparent. The cheese still maintains a sweetness but, due to the more developed rind, the crottin has a sharp aftertaste.
Très Sec: Aged two months plus. Appreciated by real fans of Crottin Chavignol. The paste is very brittle and dry, a flavour of hazelnuts has developed.
Dubois-Boulay advise that it is possible to keep the young cheese, wrapped in cheese paper, in the vegetable drawer of the fridge and age it over a few weeks or months.
The obvious, and classic pairing for this cheese is a Sancerre, white for the younger cheeses and red with the more mature.
www.dubois-boulay.frI made crottin from Mary Karlin's book with Oberhasli milk and only used P. candidum and Geo, as per her recipe, and loved it! I'll have to try the blue version sometime too.
The solution I've found for too much milk is to make lots of aged cheeses, not limiting myself to those normally made from cow's milk only. I've incorporated the general changes recommended for recipes calling for cow's milk, changed to goat's milk, as recommended by Margaret Peters-Morris: decrease rennet by 20-25%, use temps at start and finish 2-3 degrees lower, cut curd slightly larger, handle curd very gently.
Cheers!
Kitren