Camembert cheese

Camembert is a mould surface-ripened soft cheese that has a relatively homogenous white color due to the growth of a fungus, Penicillium camemberti, which entirely covers the cheese surface and contributes to its typical taste and aroma.

A Frenchwoman named Marie Harel is credited with inventing the gourmet cheese named for her native village of Camembert.

This white-molded soft cheese variety is of particular interest for the cheese industry since ripening takes only 1 to 2 weeks, it can be produced in a variety of fat contents (about 2% to 65% fat in dry matter) and due to the relatively low dry matter content of soft cheese.

For a long time, Camembert cheese was only produced in the Normandy region according to a traditional cheese-making process. This traditional process is mainly characterized by the use of whole raw cow's milk, by the absence of microbial inoculation of the milk and by the manual, cottage-type techniques used.

Inside the rind, the cheese is softened progressively from the rind toward the center from all sides, so that a fully ripe cheese has no hard sour curd in the center, but is completely softened.

No mold should be visible inside the rind, but the moldy rind itself is necessary because the ripening is caused by the enzymes secreted by the organisms of the rind onto the cheese.
Camembert cheese