Brie Cheese

Brie Cheese is perhaps one of the most famous of the 400+ French cheese's in France, and is popular throughout the world.

Nowadays this famous french cheese is made all over the world, varieties including plain-Brie, herbed-brie, double and triple-Brie and versions of Brie made with other types of milk.

The original 'Brie' and 'Brie-de-Meaux' come from the smallest french province of France, Ile de France.

Brie is a little town 60 ish miles from Paris. Brie has been manufactured here since the 8th century.

Also known as the
'King's Cheese' or
'King of Cheese's'
due to winning a cheese competition back in 1814.

Also because it was King louis XVI's favourite cheese and dying wish was to have a final taste of this wonderful soft french cheese.

This delicious, round of soft french cheese is made from unpasteurised milk and takes approximately 6.5 gallons to make one 20cm round.

The curd is obtained by adding rennet to raw milk and heating it to a maximum temperature of 37 °C. The cheese is then put into molds, sometimes with a traditional perforated ladle called a 'pelle à brie'. The mold is filled with several thin layers of cheese and drained for approximately 18 hours. Later the cheese is taken out of the molds, salted, and inoculated with cheese mold (Penicillium candidum, Penicillium camemberti and/or Brevibacterium linens) and aged in a cellar for at least four weeks.

If left to age for longer, several months to a year, the cheese becomes stronger in flavour, the pâte drier and darker, and the rind also darker and crumbly, and is called 'Brie Noir'.

Brie cheese should always be served at room temperature, with a quality red wine, like Saint-Emilion from Bourgogne, fruit and nuts or canapes.

It is meant to be eaten with it's skin and adds to the flavour. Around the Île-de-France, where Brie is made, the people enjoy soaking it in their Café au lait and eating it for breakfast.

This cheese is my family's favourite cheese, we nearly always finish our main meal with a little on crusty french bread.