Cabécou

Cabécou is a small, soft goat's-milk cheese from the Quercy region of southwestern France, and the name is now used generically for any small round goat's cheese of the same style made in the area around Rocamadour, Cajarc, and Livernon. The word comes from the Occitan "cabre," meaning goat, and the diminutive "-cou," so the literal translation is "little goat." Wheels of Cabécou are typically only five or six centimeters across and weigh around fifty grams, but the cheese packs a concentrated, tangy, almost lemony flavor that has won it a devoted following across France.

Traditional Cabécou is made from raw goat's milk curdled with a small amount of rennet, ladled by hand into small perforated molds to drain, lightly salted, and then aged for between ten days and several weeks. As the cheese matures, the thin natural rind develops a delicate grayish bloom and the interior softens from chalky to creamy. The cheese has long carried a PGI designation that protects the name across the Lot department and parts of neighboring Aveyron and Corrèze.

Cabécou is at its best eaten at room temperature with a slice of fresh baguette and a glass of dry white wine such as a Cahors, a Gaillac, or a Bergerac. You will find it at every market and fromagerie in the Lot, particularly around Rocamadour, Souillac, and Figeac. Outside France it is exported to specialty cheese shops in Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and it is a frequent feature in the cheese flights of bistro menus in Paris, London, and New York.

Cabécou takes its name from the Occitan word meaning "little goat," reflecting the cheese's small size and its goat's-milk base. Its precise origins are debated, but small goat cheeses of this style have been made for centuries in the Quercy region of southwestern France, particularly around the village of Rocamadour, where shepherding on poor, rocky land was historically a livelihood for small farmers.

The term "cabécou" is used generically for similar small goat cheeses across the region, while "Rocamadour" is a protected designation of origin covering a specific version produced in a defined area. Regional variations exist in size, texture, and aging, from fresh and creamy to more aged and firm, but the cheese remains a staple of local markets and a symbol of the area's rural gastronomic heritage, often paired with walnuts or served with salads.