Banon cheeses have been made since at least the 18th Century, though it’s expected that they date back even earlier, due to the amount of cheesemaking in the region and references to similar recipes. Banon PDO are made in Provence and truly epitomise Provencal cheese. The arid, dry hills and mountains on which they are made are perfectly suited to grazing goats, the soaring, hot temperatures force the use of rennet to quickly set the cheese, as the milk would spoil in the heat, and the cheese is wrapped and matured in local chestnut leaves.
It is said that a Roman emperor once ate so much of an earlier version of Banon cheese, that he died.
The Fromagerie de Banon have been collecting milk, making cheese by hand, and maturing it since 1958. All of the goats, whose milk goes into Banon, are within 90km of the dairy and are looked after by 9 small producers. Every year, the team also collects around 7 million chestnut leaves in November and dried them until mid-January, then selecting the best for cheese wrapping.
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