🧀 Can you recreate the character of a classic French chèvre without goat’s milk? 🐐🌿
In this recipe, I’m making small Provençal crottins with a creamy cultured center, a slightly concentrated exterior and the bright, tangy character we love in fresh chèvre. ✨
The secret is in the combination of cashews, macadamias, fermentation and carefully balanced acidity — and then I finish them three different ways: saffron, sweet pepper and cracked black pepper. 🌼🌶️🖤
These little French-style crottins are perfect for a Provençal appetizer, salad, cheese course or elegant plant-based dinner. 🇫🇷🍽️
They’re a wonderful example of how traditional French cooking can be transformed without losing its character, pleasure or sense of place. ❤️
🧀 INGREDIENTS
🌰 150 g cashews (1¼ cups)
🌰 50 g macadamias (⅓ cup)
🥛 40 g unsweetened live-culture soy yogurt (2¾ tbsp)
💧 35–50 g water (2⅓–3⅓ tbsp)
🧀 5 g nutritional yeast (2 tsp)
🌿 5 g white miso (1 tsp)
🧂 5 g sea salt (¾ tsp)
🍋 10 g lemon juice (2 tsp)
🥛 1.5 g food-grade lactic acid (⅛–¼ tsp)
⚖️ Because lactic acid products vary in concentration and density, weight is preferable for this ingredient.
🌿 Finishing
🌼 Saffron — small pinch
🌶️ Sweet paprika / piment doux — approximately ½–1 tsp
🖤 Coarsely cracked black pepper — approximately 1 tsp
👨🍳 PRO TIPS
💡 PRO TIP 1 — Don’t make the mixture too wet.
The less excess water you introduce during blending, the easier it is to achieve a dense crottin.
⏳ PRO TIP 2 — Fermentation is about taste, not the clock. 18–24 hours is a starting point, not a guarantee. Temperature, culture and ingredients affect the speed.
🍋 PRO TIP 3 — Use lactic acid carefully.
A tiny amount makes the acidity feel much more dairy-like. Too much will simply make the cheese sour.
🌿 PRO TIP 4 — Don’t over-flavor the cheese.
Keep the base relatively neutral and put your Provençal flavors on the outside. This creates much more complexity.
🧀 PRO TIP 5 — Give the crottins time.
That 24–48 hour uncovered rest is not wasted time. It’s where moisture decreases and flavor concentrates.
⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00 🐐 Can You Make Chèvre Without Goat’s Milk?
00:46 🧀 Ingredients for Chèvre Crottins
00:55 🥣 Making the Cheese Base
02:04 🦠 Culturing the Cheese
03:29 🧺 Draining
04:50 🧺 Shaping
05:37 🌼 Three Provençal Flavors
07:23 😋 Tasting the Finished Cheese
🌿 HASHTAGS
#ChèvreCrottin #GoatCheeseAlternative #FrenchChèvre #HomemadeChèvre #ProvençalCheese #PlantBasedCheese #DairyFreeCheese #FrenchPlantBasedCooking #VeganGoatCheese #VeganChèvre #VeganCheeseRecipe #VeganGoatCheeseRecipe
15 Comments
Which one would you choose? 🇫🇷
Saffron, sweet pepper or cracked black pepper?
I honestly had a hard time choosing my favorite. 😄
If you make these Provençal crottins, tell me how they turned out—and especially what you served them with.
And if you're new here, welcome to My Provence Kitchen — Plant-Based Cuisine from the South of France. 🌿
I think I'd choose the saffron first to taste due to your reaction 😂..I love cracked pepper so I'll adore that one anyway.
Sweet paprika sounds delicious.
I really wouldn't know which was my favourite,,
Thank you for this, you are such an inspiration to vegan foods.Love this channel
phenomenal
Wow, thanks for giving it a go and showing us the chèvre. I love ‘cheese’ recipes like this 😀
In order to find a favourite I would have to try ghem all!😊 what a lovely recipe
Great video! I plan to make these this week. Thank you.
Wouldn't keeping it in the heat for so long cause it to spoil?
I haven't finished the video yet but I notice the lactic acid in the recipe,
you should also try adding a bit of Caprylic acid, it's what gives goat cheese that goaty flavor, it's widely available as a dietary supplement.
Chef Lionel — massive respect.
Without casein, plant-based cheese has been the toughest nut to crack in vegan food innovation.
Based on your goat-milk-style results, it looks like you’ve reached a real milestone.
I would like to try them all. One question: Are the macadamia nuts roasted? I am afraid I can only find roasted and salted like peanuts.
This looks amazing and I could listen to your voice all day, such a relaxing and interesting video. Thank you
Fabulous presentation for a very tricky recipe you seem to have mastered! Thanks for posting!
Chef please could you share how to source such beautiful saffron. I have never seen so much.
Yum! I noticed with one of my own experimentations that when fermented, almonds get a bit of that "barnyard-y" funk that's very chèvre-like. Do you get that with macadamia?
Wow! You are an incredible chef! Looking forward to making these.