SOFT CHEESES RIPENED BY MOLD 131 



summer months at all and the losses entailed by failure 

 of control in winter fall on the most costly milk of the 

 year. Camembert requires, therefore, careful selection 

 of the location for manufacture and ripening, effective 

 control of conditions throughout the period and adequate 

 marketing facilities. Camembert at its best is one of 

 the finest of all cheeses ; when bad, it becomes quickly 

 inedible and is a total loss. 



153. French Brie. 1 Brie cheese has its center of 

 production in Seine-et-Marne, east of Paris in northern 

 France. The apparatus, arrangement of the factories 

 and details of manipulation differ from those described 

 for Camembert, but the final product is in flavor and 

 texture closely related to Camembert. Brie cheeses are 

 the same thickness as Camembert, 1 to \\ inches ; in diam- 

 eter, however, there are three or more sizes varying 

 from 8 to 16 inches, or even greater. The largest cheeses 

 weigh 5 to 6 pounds. As in Camembert, practices of 

 making and ripening vary to such a degree as to produce 

 various qualities of product. These run from whole milk 

 through all shades of skimming. Perhaps the best 

 established practice puts the cheese -making room next 

 to the "stalls of the cows. The milk is drawn, strained 

 directly into the curdling cans and renneted while still 

 warm, 86-92 F. (30-33 C.). No lactic starter is 

 added and no ripening period is given to the milk. The 

 other manipulations differ only in detail from Camembert. 

 Ripening of Brie follows the same course with the same 

 organic agents, namely, Camembert mold (Penicillium 

 Camemberti) and Oidium lactis with the accompaniment 

 of a mixture of slimy organisms upon the surface of the 



1 See page 134 for domestic or American use of the name 

 Brie. 



