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Cheese from France, the eastern Paris basin

Brie de Meaux PDOBrie de Meaux

Raw cow milk is set quickly with bovine rennet at no more than 37 °C, then ladled by hand in thin layers with a perforated "pelle à brie" into moulds 36–37 cm wide. The flat disc drains on mats (cagets), is dry-salted and grows a white bloom in a drying room, then ripens in cellars; ripening lasts at least four weeks from renneting.

Fully documentedCheese53 daysPDO (EU); AOC since 1980Family: Bloomy-rind soft cheese family (Camembert de Normandie as template)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification fixes limits, not a recipe. Each moulded disc is 36–37 cm across and weighs 2.6–3.3 kg.
Raw cow milkCollected every 48 h at most; fat set by part-skimming at 40 °C at most; no concentrated, recombined or powdered milk[bo-brie2020]
Lactic culturesUp to 3% of the milk volume for pre-maturing; thermophilic cultures are banned[bo-brie2020]
Bovine rennetOnly rennet of bovine origin[bo-brie2020]
Mould and yeast culturesBacteria, yeast and mould cultures shown to be safe are the only microbes allowed[bo-brie2020]
Calcium chlorideAllowed by the specification[bo-brie2020]
Dry saltDry salt only, never brine[bo-brie2020]
Starterbacterial cultures added to the milk (thermophilic cultures banned); after salting the cheese is treated with mould spores

Total time across the recorded steps: 53 days

Start
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up to 40 °C

What changes: Starting material: raw cow milk, part-skimmed to set its fat

Step 1 of 8
Collect raw milk
Time
up to 36 h
Set
Temperature
up to 40 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Penicillium candidum
Moulds

Freezing the milk, curd or fresh cheese is banned.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Raw cow milk is set quickly with bovine rennet at no more than 37 °C, then ladled by hand in thin layers with a perforated "pelle à brie" into moulds 36–37 cm wide. The flat disc drains on mats (cagets), is dry-salted and grows a white bloom in a drying room, then ripens in cellars; ripening lasts at least four weeks from renneting. Made in 8 steps over 53 days. The longest step, ripen in cellars, takes at least 28 days (Ministère de l'agriculture 2020) and runs at 4–14 °C (Ministère de l'agriculture 2020). Penicillium candidum, a mould first isolated from a Brie in 1897 by Georges Roger; the specification allows mould cultures and the bloom (fleur) grows in the drying room does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 28 daysSet[bo-brie2020]Ripen in cellars
Temperature4–14 °CSet[bo-brie2020]Ripen in cellars
AciditypH up to 4.9Set[bo-brie2020]Dry-salt

What makes this one different

Brie de Meaux is much wider than Camembert, at 36–37 cm, and it is set fast with a high dose of rennet rather than left to sour slowly. That rennet curd is ladled with a wide perforated pelle à brie and travels well before ripening, while the smaller Brie de Melun uses a slower lactic curd.

Milk
Raw cow milk, pre-matured under 48 h at 22 °C or less; thermophilic cultures are banned
Setting
Bovine rennet at 37 °C or less; coagulation takes under 2 h
Moulding
Moulded by hand in thin layers with the pelle à brie, a perforated skimmer 28–32 cm wide, into moulds 36–37 cm across
Draining
Drains on its own on cagets at 30 °C or less; dry salt only
Ripening
At least 4 weeks: under 21 days in the ripening room at 8–16 °C, then caves at 4–14 °C; ripe to the core at 6–8 weeks
Size
2.6–3.3 kg; fat in dry matter at least 45%; dry matter at least 44%

Related ferments

Safety

This is a raw-milk cheese. ANSES advises pregnant women, young children, people over 65 and people with weak immunity not to eat raw-milk cheeses other than cooked pressed ones such as Comté. The specification requires pH 4.9 or lower one day after demoulding, to set the cheese's lactic character; it does not give this as a safety limit.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and Shiga-toxin-producing E. coli (risks ANSES names for raw-milk cheeses).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The 1995 EU application says cheese from the Brie country seems to have been known since Charlemagne, and that Brie de Meaux won fame at the Congress of Vienna in 1814. The 2020 specification says that at the end of the 19th century rennet use was better mastered and the large rennet-type Brie split from smaller lactic cheeses, and that Georges Roger isolated Penicillium candidum from a Brie in 1897. Both texts say it obtained its AOC in August 1980.

  1. [bo-brie2020] Ministère de l'agriculture, Cahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine protégée « Brie de Meaux », version approved by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/914 (BO-Agri notice 2020-30)spec
  2. [eamb-brie] INAO, Application for registration of the PDO Brie de Meaux under Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92, summary sheet (1995), eAmbrosia attachment 71328spec
  3. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov