Brillat-Savarin

Rate it

Brillat-Savarin is a French triple cream cow's milk cheese with a natural bloomy rind and at least 72% fat in dry matter. Made mainly in Normandy, it tastes luscious, creamy and faintly sour, and it is also sold fresh, closer to rich cream cheese.

Key Facts

Country of Origin France
Specific Origin Normandy and Burgundy, France
Protection PGI (2015)
Milk Type Cow's milk
Milk Treatment Pasteurized
Fat Content 75% dry fat matter
Rind White and fluffy P. candidum
Texture Semisoft
Flavor Luxurious, tangy, sour, mushroomy softened butter
Aroma Milky
Colors White
Forms Small round
Age 1 to 2 weeks
Also Known As Excelsior, Délice des gourmets

What is Brillat-Savarin Cheese?

The Dubuc family created this cheese in 1890 near Forges-les-Eaux, in Seine-Maritime. They sold it under two names, Excelsior and Délice des gourmets, which means gourmets' delight.

Pierre and Henri Androuët, a father and son who made cheese, renamed it in the 1930s after Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, the 18th-century French gourmet and political figure.

It is a soft-ripened triple cream cheese made from cow's milk, with at least 72% fat in dry matter, about 40% overall. Wheels run 12 to 13 cm (4.7 to 5.1 in) across and roughly 4 cm thick. They ripen for one to two weeks in a dry cellar.

The rind is natural and bloomy. Inside, the paste is luscious and creamy, with a faintly sour edge.

There is also a fresh version, non affiné, which skips the ripening and resembles a rich cream cheese. Production runs all year, mainly in Normandy and also in Burgundy.