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Cheese from France, Lorraine

Carré de l'Est

Carré de l'Est is a square, soft cow-milk cheese from Lorraine with a thick, downy white rind. In a 1967 study of industrial Carré de l'Est-type curds, starter-ripened milk was set with rennet, cut into small pieces, filled into square moulds and drained for about 20 hours. Over 29 days of ripening the pH of the paste rose from 4.8 to 6.85.

Fully documentedCheese30 daysName defined in French cheese law (décret n° 2007-628 of 27 April 2007); no AOPFamily: Bloomy-rind soft cheese family (Camembert de Normandie as template)

Recipe

Carré de l'Est, a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Richieman assumed (based on copyright claims)., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Amounts from a sourceAmounts from an industrial make of Carré de l'Est-type cheese in a dairy studied in 1967, given per 120 g of milk dry matter (about 1 litre of milk). The sources give no standard recipe.
Cow milkPasteurised at 72 °C for 60 seconds in the dairy studied in 1967; the 1953 USDA handbook says the French cheese is made from cow's whole milk, pasteurised or not[tourneur1967][plf-carre][usda-hb54]
Lactic starter (mixed culture grown on pasteurised milk)About 2 % of the milk[tourneur1967]
Calcium chloride0.25 g per 120 g of milk dry matter[tourneur1967]
Rennet0.3 ml of 1/10 000 rennet per 120 g of milk dry matter[tourneur1967]
White surface mould (Penicillium caseicolum)[oqlf-moisissures]
Startera mixed culture of lactic bacteria grown on pasteurised milk, about 2 % of the milk

Total time across the recorded steps: 30 days

Start
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shapes, not to countPenicillium caseicolum34 °C

What changes: A lactic starter goes into the pasteurised milk, which sours slowly at 34 °C

Step 1 of 4
Pasteurise and ripen the milk with starter
Time
2.5–3 h
Reported
Temperature
34 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Penicillium caseicolum
Moulds

Values from the pasteurised-milk control cheeses in an industrial study of Carré de l'Est-type curds (Tourneur et al. 1967). Output: ripened milk.

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

Carré de l'Est is a square, soft cow-milk cheese from Lorraine with a thick, downy white rind. In a 1967 study of industrial Carré de l'Est-type curds, starter-ripened milk was set with rennet, cut into small pieces, filled into square moulds and drained for about 20 hours. Over 29 days of ripening the pH of the paste rose from 4.8 to 6.85. Made in 4 steps over 30 days. The longest step, ripen under a white rind, takes 29 days (Tourneur C 1967). Penicillium caseicolum, the white felt on the rind does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step29 daysReported[tourneur1967]Ripen under a white rind
Temperature34 °CReported[tourneur1967]Pasteurise and ripen the milk with starter
AciditypH 4.8 → 6.85Measured[tourneur1967]Ripen under a white rind

What makes this one different

Carré de l'Est is a square cheese from Lorraine, a Camembert-type cheese under a white mould rind. The 1953 USDA handbook says its curd is cut before dipping, unlike true Camembert, which speeds early drainage of whey. Its definition comes from a cheese decree, not from a protected origin.

Shape and size
Square, 8.5–11 cm a side and 2–3 cm thick, 100–300 g; a small and a large size also exist
Milk
Cow's whole milk, pasteurised or not (1953 USDA handbook); today mostly pasteurised or thermised and made in dairies (French dairy sector)
Ripening
About four weeks in the 1967 study, when the paste had reached pH 6.85

Related ferments

Variants

  • Petit Carré de l'Est2.5 to 2.9 inches a side and 4.4 to 5.6 oz (about 6.4–7.4 cm and 125–160 g).
  • Grand Carré de l'Est7 to 8.2 inches a side and 28.2 oz to 2.6 lb (about 18–21 cm and 0.8–1.2 kg).

Safety

Most Carré de l'Est is now made from pasteurised or thermised milk. In the 1967 study the fresh curds were at pH 4.45–4.65, and the pH rose to near neutral as the rind mould ripened the cheese. Carré de l'Est is a soft cheese under a white mould rind, made like Camembert. The UK NHS says pasteurised or unpasteurised mould-ripened soft cheeses with a white coating, such as brie and camembert, must be thoroughly cooked in pregnancy, because soft ripened cheeses may carry listeria.

History and sources

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

The 1953 USDA handbook already lists Carré de l'Est as a Camembert-type cheese made in France, and notes that its curd is cut before dipping, which speeds early drainage of whey. The French dairy sector says its definition is set by the cheese decree of 27 April 2007 (décret 2007-628).

  1. [tourneur1967] Tourneur C., Do Ngoc Cu, Lenoir J., Veisseyre R. 1967, L'influence de l'emploi du lait concentré sur certaines caractéristiques des fabrications fromagères, Le Lait 47(467):383–392 (curds of the Carré de l'Est type, industrial and laboratory makes)paper
  2. [plf-carre] Produits Laitiers de France (French dairy sector site), Carré de l'Est product pageweb
  3. [oqlf-moisissures] Office québécois de la langue française 1983, Grand dictionnaire terminologique, 'fromage affiné aux moisissures' (note on Penicillium caseicolum)gov
  4. [usda-hb54] Sanders G.P. 1953, Cheese varieties and descriptions, USDA Agriculture Handbook 54 (Carré de l'Est, p. 35)archive
  5. [decret-2007-628] Décret n° 2007-628 du 27 avril 2007 relatif aux fromages et spécialités fromagères (FAOLEX copy; the annex listing defined cheese names is not reproduced there)spec
  6. [nhs-preg] NHS (UK), Foods to avoid in pregnancy (cheese section)gov