🧀 Brie de Melun

Brie de Melun is a French soft cheese with a bloomy rind, made exclusively from raw cow's milk, predominantly lactic in character and protected as a PDO (registered on 21 June 1996, file PDO-FR-0111). It is named after the town of Melun, in the natural region of Brie. ³

How it is made. According to the single document, the milk is ripened and coagulated slowly to give a lactic curd, which is stirred and cast in small moulds; the cheese is dry-salted. The moulds are cylindrical, 27 to 28 cm in internal diameter, so the cheese is a flat cylinder with pointed or rounded edges. At least 80% of the dry matter in the herd's ration must come from the production area. ³

Ripening and look. Minimum ripening is five weeks from renneting; at that point the wheel weighs 1.5 to 2.2 kg. The fine rind has a felt-like white coating with red or brown streaks or patches. At five weeks the body is crumbly and slightly runny beneath the rind, with a milky then yeasty flavour and a slightly acidic taste; between five and eight weeks it becomes supple; after eight to ten weeks it is fully mature, supple to slightly runny, with a hint of bitterness, a milky taste and a lasting flavour. It contains at least 45 g of fat per 100 g of dry matter and may be sold in halves or triangular portions after the five weeks. ³

Area. The milk is produced, and the cheese made and matured, in all of Seine-et-Marne and in listed communes of Aube and Yonne. ³

Packing and labelling. The cheese is wrapped in paper or plastic film, and the packaging must let the crumbly cheese be handled without breaking. The label must show the name and the EU PDO logo. ³

Why it differs from its neighbour. Both cheeses come from the same farming system, but at the end of the 19th century better technique split them: small cheeses used lactic curd, larger ones rennet. That slow curd is why Melun is crumbly at first and tastes milky, then yeasty, and slightly acidic. ³

A much smaller cheese. In 2020, 179 tonnes were sold, from 39 milk producers, against 6,227 tonnes of Brie de Meaux. Its producers' sheet regards it as the ancestor of all bries, but that is their own view, not something the specification states. ³⁴

Why it matters to you. The name Brie de Melun has been protected in the EU since 1996: it means raw cow's milk, slow lactic production, at least five weeks of ripening and an origin in the defined area. It is fully mature at eight to ten weeks, so check the age: young it is crumbly, mature it is supple with a lasting flavour. The NHS advises pregnant women to avoid mould-ripened soft cheese unless cooked, and this one is also made from raw milk. ³⁵