🧀 Camembert

Camembert is a soft cow’s milk cheese with a velvety white rind of mould that ripens from the surface towards the centre. The milk is soured and curdled with rennet, the curd is carefully placed in cylindrical moulds (traditionally with a ladle, in layers), the cheese is left to drain, salted and inoculated with Penicillium camemberti and other cultures. Ripening takes several weeks, during which the paste becomes creamy and the flavour mushroomy and buttery.

Camembert was first made in the late 18th century in the village of Camembert in Normandy, in northwestern France. Legend links it to a local farmer’s wife, Marie Harel, but the exact history is disputed. In the late 19th century the cheese began to be packed in round wooden boxes, which helped transport it over long distances. The name “Camembert de Normandie” is protected in the EU and requires raw Normandy milk.

Camembert differs from Brie in its smaller size, its homeland (Brie comes from the Île-de-France region) and slightly lower fat content. Camembert is eaten with bread and fruit, or baked whole and served with nuts and honey.