Brie de Melun

What is Brie de Melun Cheese?

Brie is a soft cow's milk cheese named after Brie, the French region it came from, roughly the area of the modern département of Seine-et-Marne. Brie is a style rather than a protected name, but a few regional versions are protected. Brie de Melun is one of only two types the French government officially certifies, the other being Brie de Meaux. It was granted AOC status in 1980.

It is made with unpasteurised milk. The curd comes from adding rennet to raw milk warmed to no more than 37 °C (99 °F). The curd is cast into moulds in thin successive layers, sometimes using a traditional perforated ladle called a pelle à brie, then drained for roughly 18 hours. After draining it is salted, inoculated with Penicillium camemberti or Brevibacterium linens, and aged in a controlled environment for at least four or five weeks.

The wheel averages 27 cm (11 inches) across and 1.5 kg (3 1/4 lb), smaller than Brie de Meaux. The paste is pale with a slight greyish tinge under a rind of white mould. Flavour notes common to brie include creamy, nutty, mushroom-like and slightly acidic, and Brie de Melun runs stronger and more pungent than its larger neighbour. Left to mature for several months to a year it becomes Brie noir, with a drier, darker paste and a crumbly rind, and it is sold that way as Old Brie or black brie.

The white rind is edible and is normally eaten. The cheese is ready when the outside is firm and the inside is slightly bouncy; underripe brie feels stiff, while overripe brie turns creamy and almost runny, and too far gone it tastes strongly of ammonia. Brie is sometimes served baked. Keep it refrigerated at 4 °C (39 °F) or lower, tightly wrapped or in a sealed container.