SOFT CHEESES RIPENED BY MOLD 117 



143. The Camembert group. The soft cheeses ripened 

 by molds are French in origin. Their manufacture has 

 spread into Germany, Italy and America. Of the series, the 

 most widely known is Camembert, which will be described 

 as typical for the group. Brie, Coulommiers, Robbiola 

 and Ripened Neufchatel belong to this series. 



144. Camembert cheese. The origin of Camembert 

 is given by French authorities as 1791 in the Commune 

 of Camembert near Vimoutiers in Orne, France. From 

 a very restricted production at first, Camembert-making 

 has spread through the region from Caen in the west 

 to Havre, Rouen and a considerable area east of Paris. 

 In America Camembert began to be made in one factory 

 about 1900. Several other factories followed by 1906. 

 The difficulties and losses encountered led to the abandon- 

 ment of these undertakings, until at the outbreak of the 

 European war in 1914 but one factory was making Ca- 

 membert and that only on an experimental scale. Mean- 

 while the United States Department of Agriculture and 

 the Storrs Experiment Station had taken up and solved, 

 on an experimental basis, most of the problems arising 

 in these commercial failures. A shortage of product 

 at the outbreak of the war brought about the re-estab- 

 lishment of a series of factories. The product as put 

 on the market indicates that a permanent establishment 

 of Camembert-making is entirely practicable. 



Camembert cheese is made from cow's milk either whole 

 or very slightly skimmed ; the removal of about 0.5 per cent 

 of fat has been found to be desirable if not actually necessary. 



145. Description of Camembert. 1 These cheeses are 

 made in sizes 2| to 4^ inches in diameter and li to 1^ 



1 Thorn, C., U. S. Dept. Agr. Bur. An. Ind. Circ. 145 (1909), 

 page 339. 



