128 



THE BOOK OF CHEESE 



150. Composition. Properly ripe Camembert shows 

 about the following range of composition : Water 47 to 

 49 per cent ; fat 25 to 28 per cent ; protein 18 to 21 per 

 cent; salt 2.2 per cent to 2.8 per cent. Variations out- 

 side these limits are usually associated with less desirable 

 qualities. The approximate limits and characters out- 

 lined for Camembert still leave a considerable latitude 

 for variations in practice which characterize the output 

 of particular factories in a producing group. At one 



FIG. 21. Very soft Camembert cheese. 



extreme are brands of Camembert cheese which are very 

 soft (Fig. 21), some of them actually liquid when ripe, and 

 which have very strong odor and taste ; one such brand 

 has held first place in the trade of certain American 

 cities for years. Another popular brand when fully ripe 

 is w r ell covered with yellow-orange viscid slime 1 but is 



1 Esten, W. M., and C. J. Mason, Bact. Stud, of Camembert 

 cheese, Storrs Exp. Sta. Bui. 83 (1915), pages 103-111. 



