Kosher Blog

Les Petites Fermieres Brie & Camembert

I began the process of evaluating these cheesew with some excitement, and ended with mild disappointment. Don’t get me wrong, the cheeses (properly served at room temperature)were tasty — but I found little if any difference between them.

Both the mini cheese wheels (about 4″ diameter) had a thin, white, nutty-smelling rind, as was expected, and a soft, creamy interior, which, at room temperature, spread handily on my favorite crackers.

Neither had a particularly profound flavor. Understandably, camembert is normally quite mild, but the brie should have been more pronounced. In this case, side by side, you’d be hard pressed to distinguish one from the other.

However, this might not be the fault of Anderson International Foods (maker of Les Petites Fermieres cheese). According to Janet Fletcher of the San Francisco Chronicle, true French camembert is made with raw (unpasteurized) milk and aged only three weeks — an illegal act in the U.S., which requires a minimum of 60 days ripening for raw-milk cheeses. So, for that reason, American camemberts may never attain the true taste level of their French counterparts.

However, there should be some identifiable taste difference given that Brie and Camembert are properly made with unique combinations of enzymes: camembert with Penicillium camemberti; brie with P. camemberti, Brevibacterium linens, and others. Perhaps there are kashrut concerns with the extra brie bacteria, limiting a kosher cheesemaker’s latitiude.

Taste aside, it would be nice if these cheeses were available in larger wheels, especially for entertaining.