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Cheese from France, parts of the departments of Côte-d'Or, Saône-et-Loire, Yonne, Seine-et-Marne and Aube

Brillat-Savarin PGIBrillat-Savarin

Whole cow milk enriched with cream is soured with mesophilic cultures and set with calf rennet for at least 12 hours at 32 °C or below, which gives a lactic curd. The curd is ladled into moulds by gravity, drains at least 20 hours and dries for a day. Sold fresh from day 3, or ripened at 5–14 °C into a white-rinded "affiné" cheese.

Fully documentedCheese2.3 daysPGI (IGP, EU); the register lists it under Official Journal L 15 of 19 January 2017Family: Bloomy-rind soft cheese family (Camembert de Normandie as template)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe rules set a rennet limit and the size of the curdling basins (220 litres at most), but no recipe amounts.
Whole cow milkCollected within 2 days of the oldest milking; never frozen[bs-cdc-2025]
Cow creamSkimmed from whole cow milk; whey cream, homogenised and frozen cream are banned[bs-cdc-2025]
Mesophilic lactic cultures[bs-cdc-2025]
Calf rennet20 ml per 100 litres or lessThe only coagulant allowed[bs-cdc-2025]
SaltSodium chloride or salt substitutes; finished cheese below 2 % salt[bs-cdc-2025]
Ripening cultures (Penicillium candidum, Geotrichum)Only for the ripened "affiné" cheese[bs-cdc-2025]
Startermesophilic lactic cultures; Penicillium candidum and Geotrichum for the ripened cheese

Total time across the recorded steps: 2.3 days

Start
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up to 32 °CpH up to 6.5

What changes: Cream and lactic cultures go into whole milk, which begins to sour

Step 1 of 6
Mix milk and cream and ripen with cultures
Time
Not documented
Temperature
up to 32 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
pH up to 6.5
Set
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Penicillium candidum
Geotrichum

Output: soured milk and cream.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

mesophilic lactic cultures start the acid and the aroma

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

Whole cow milk enriched with cream is soured with mesophilic cultures and set with calf rennet for at least 12 hours at 32 °C or below, which gives a lactic curd. The curd is ladled into moulds by gravity, drains at least 20 hours and dries for a day. Sold fresh from day 3, or ripened at 5–14 °C into a white-rinded "affiné" cheese. Made in 6 steps over 2.3 days. The longest step, unmould and dry, takes at least 24 h (Ministère de l'agriculture 2025) and runs at up to 14 °C (Ministère de l'agriculture 2025).

Key numbers
Main stepat least 24 hSet[bs-cdc-2025]Unmould and dry
Temperatureup to 14 °CSet[bs-cdc-2025]Unmould and dry
AciditypH up to 4.9Set[bs-cdc-2025]Set with calf rennet into a lactic curd

What makes this one different

Unlike Camembert, Brillat-Savarin is a cream-enriched lactic curd that sets for at least 12 hours and reaches at least 72 % fat in dry matter. It may be sold fresh, without a rind, from day 3.

Milk
Whole cow milk enriched with cow cream
Ripening
Sold from day 3; "affiné" at least 5 days (small) or 8 days (large)
Composition
At least 72 % fat in dry matter, at least 40 % dry matter, under 2 % salt
Size
Small at least 100 g, 60–100 mm across; large at least 500 g, 110–140 mm across

Related ferments

Variants

  • Fresh Brillat-SavarinSold from 3 days after renneting, with no mould rind.
  • Brillat-Savarin affinéRipened at 5–14 °C for at least 5 or 8 days, with a white mould rind.

Safety

The rules require cream received and stored at 8 °C or below before making and a curd at pH 4.9 or lower before moulding.

History and sources

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

The specification says the cheese was named in the early 1930s by its creator Henry Androuët, a Paris cheese ripener, after the magistrate Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, author of Physiologie du Goût (1830). After its commercial success, dairies of the production area that already made cream-enriched lactic curd cheeses began selling under the name from the 1960s. A Côte-d'Or dairy won gold and silver medals for its ripened Brillat-Savarin at the Concours Général Agricole in 1976, and about 30 % of production is exported.

  1. [bs-cdc-2025] Ministère de l'agriculture, Cahier des charges de l'indication géographique protégée « Brillat-Savarin », homologated by the arrêté of 7 July 2025 (JORF of 12 July 2025), Bulletin officiel du ministère de l'agriculture n° 2025-29 (BO-Agri)spec
  2. [bs-sd-2025] European Commission, Communication of an approved standard amendment and single document 'Brillat-Savarin' (PGI-FR-02102), Official Journal of the European Union C/2025/6086 of 12 November 2025 (French text)spec
  3. [reg-bs] European Commission, eAmbrosia register record for Brillat-Savarin (PGI-FR-02102), Official Journal L 15, 19.01.2017gov