Cheese of the Week - Brie

Brie

Brie is the best known French cheese and has a nickname "The Queen of Cheeses". Several hundred years ago, Brie was one of the tributes which had to be paid to the French kings. In France, Brie is very different from the cheese exported to the United States. "Real" French Brie is unstabilized and the flavor is complex when the surface turns slightly brown. When the cheese is still pure-white, it is not matured. If the cheese is cut before the maturing process is finished, it will never develop properly. Exported Brie, however, is stabilized and never matures. Stabilized Brie has a much longer shelf life and is not susceptible to bacteriological infections. Brie, one of the great dessert cheeses, comes as either a 1 or 2 kilogram wheel and is packed in a wooden box. In order to enjoy the taste fully, Brie must be served at room temperature.


Country: France

Milk: cow milk

Texture: soft

Fat content: 45 %

Recommended Wine:     Bourgogne

Producer: Societe fromagere de la Brie
19 Avenue du Grand Morin
77169 Saint-Simeon

Brie /ˈbriː/ is a soft cow's cheese named after Brie, the French region from which it originated (roughly corresponding to the modern département of Seine-et-Marne). It is pale in color with a slight grayish tinge under a rind of white mold. The whitish moldy rind is typically eaten, the flavor quality of which depends largely upon the ingredients used and its manufacturing environment.

Brie may be produced from whole or semi-skimmed milk. The curd is obtained by adding rennet to raw milk and heating it to a maximum temperature of 37° C. The cheese is then cast into molds, sometimes with a traditional perforated ladle called a pelle à brie. The 20cm mold is filled with several thin layers of cheese and drained for approximately 18 hours. The cheese is then taken out of the molds, salted, inoculated with cheese mold (Penicillium candidum, Penicillium camemberti) or Brevibacterium linens, and aged in a cellar for at least four to five weeks.

If left to mature for longer, typically several months to a year, the cheese becomes stronger in flavor and taste, the pâte drier and darker, and the rind also darker and crumbly, and is called Brie Noir (Fr: black Brie). Around the Île-de-France where Brie is made, people enjoy soaking this in café au lait and eating it for breakfast.

Overripe Brie contains an unpleasant excessive amount of ammonia which is produced by the same microorganisms required for ripening.

There are now many varieties of Brie made all over the world, including plain Brie, herbed varieties, double and triple Brie and versions of Brie made with other types of milk. Indeed, although Brie is a French cheese, it is possible to obtain Somerset and Wisconsin Brie. Despite the variety of Bries, the French government officially certifies only two types of cheese to be sold under that name: Brie de Meaux and Brie de Melun.

The Brie de Meaux, manufactured outside of Paris since the 8th century, was originally known as the "King's Cheese", or, after the French Revolution, the "King of Cheeses," and was enjoyed by the peasantry and nobility alike. It was granted the protection of Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) status in 1980, and it is produced primarily in the eastern part of the Parisian basin.

Brie is usually purchased either in a full wheel or as a wheel segment. Further sub-division in most homes is subject to social conventions that have arisen to ensure that each person partaking in the cheese receives a roughly equal amount of skin. Slices are taken along the radius of the cheese rather than across the point. Removing the more desirable tip from a wedge of brie is known as "pointing the Brie" and is regarded as a faux pas. The white outside of the cheese is completely edible, and many eat Brie whole.

Camembert is a similar soft cheese, also made from cow milk. However, there are differences beyond the simple geographical fact that Brie originates from the Champagne and Camembert from Normandy. Brie is produced in large wheels and thus ripens differently: when sold it typically has been cut from a wheel, and therefore its side is not covered by the rind; Camembert, meanwhile, is ripened as a small round cheese and sold as such, so it is fully covered by rind. This changes the ratio between the rind and the inner part of the cheese. Furthermore, Brie contains more fat than Camembert.