Overview

Brie de Meaux is a raw-cow, bloomy-rind cheese moulded at 36–37 cm and weighing about 2.6–3.3 kg. Aging is at least four weeks from the day of renneting. At four weeks the specification says the cheese is about a quarter ripe through its height. Between four and six weeks it moves from chalky to supple. At six to eight weeks it is often ripe to the heart, with official tasting language pointing to cream, butter, and hazelnut.

Ladle, not mill

The curd is ladled with a pelle à Brie so it is not smashed. Moisture stays. In 1897 Georges Roger isolated what was then called penicillium candidum from a Brie and worked out a way to seed it. That is process history, not “since the dawn of time.”

How to eat it

From the rind inward. That is the direction of ripening. A blast of ammonia and a fully collapsed heart usually means the enzymes have finished the job — overripe, not “more advanced.”