Camembert Cheese Making Recipe

A good Camembert is pure white and velvety or downy on the outside and soft, smooth on the inside. Notably, the rind can and should be eaten as part of the Camembert experience, which should also feature a stick of crusty French Baguette, and a cup or two of red wine, accordion music is essential, backgammon optional.

Ingredients

Ingredients - Metric
Ingredients - American

Directions

Making
Aging
Consuming

Tricks
Traps

Ingredients

Ingredients - Metric

Makes ~3 standard 11 cm diameter Camembert Cheeses:

4 litres fresh whole cow's milk.
Optional: Calcium Chloride if using store bought pasteurized milk, amount as per manufacturers directions or your experience.
60 ml of homemade or your choice of manufactured Mesophilic Starter Culture, amount as per directions.
Rennet, your choice of type, amount as per your experience or package directions, diluted in ~125 ml cool water.
Salt
Penicillium Ccndidum or a piece of rind from a Camembert cheese as an inoculant. If spraying on P candidum, 16 hours before use, melt 1/8 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp sugar in 8 oz water then dilute in 1/8 tsp P Candidum, pour into atomizer, and place in fridge to reactivate before use.
Optional: Geotrichum candidum.
Optional: Some French cheesemakers spray the cheese with unpasteurised beer or wine to add additional flavour and micro-organisms.

Ingredients - American

Makes ~2 standard 4.25 inch diameter Camembert Cheeses:

1 US gallon fresh whole cow's milk.
Optional: Calcium Chloride if using store bought pasteurized milk, amount as per manufacturers directions or your experience.
2 fluid ounces of homemade or your choice of manufactured Mesophilic Starter Culture, amount as per directions.
Rennet, your choice of type, amount as per your experience or package directions, diluted in ~4 ounces of cool water.
Salt
Penicillium candidum or a piece of rind from a Camembert cheese as an inoculant. If spraying on P candidum, 16 hours before use, melt 1/8 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp sugar in 8 oz water then dilute in 1/8 tsp P Candidum, pour into atomizer, and place in fridge to reactivate before use.
Optional: Geotrichum candidum.
Optional: Some French cheesemakers spray the cheese with unpasteurised beer or wine to add additional flavour and micro-organisms.

Directions

Making

Pour milk into stockpot, place stockpot in water bath (sink or larger stockpot on stove) and warm slowly to 31-32°C/88-90°F.
Add starter culture and thoroughly stir in. Optional, if adding Penicillium candidum and Geotrichum candidum to milk, do so here by stirring in. Cover and set aside to ripen for ~90 minutes.
Add diluted rennet, stir in, cover and set aside for curd to set.
After ~60 minutes, check for clean break, if good, cut curd into 1-2 cm/0.5-1 inch diamonds.
Let cut curds rest and settle to bottom of stockpot @ same temperature for 10 minutes.
Ladle off whey to level of curds, then gently ladle cut curds into hoops on mats on a draining board in 4-5 ladles.
Level top of curds such that all are even/same height.
Place top mats on top of hoops.
After gravity draining ~1 hour, quickly turn the mat-hoop-mat sandwich without curds slipping out and place back down, do not refill hoops.
Peel back top mat carefully so don't tear surface, rinse-wash and replace.
Repeat above two steps every ~hour for 5 hours and then occasionally until the pH is 4.6-4.9 or the cheeses are about 1/3 original height and have shrunk away from sides of hoop. This should be 8-12 hours after adding culture, start of cheese making.
Remove cheeses from hoops and cover with light/thin layer of dry salt (6 - 9 grams/cheese) by shaker or by rubbing the salt on all surfaces to inhibit the growth of micro-organisms and hence slow further acid development.
Place salted cheeses on plastic mats in cool drying room @ 9-10 C/48-50 F & 95% humidity.

Aging

Leave cheeses in same cool but very humid drying room for 5-10 days during which the rind will fully develop. Turn cheeses daily.
Optional, if spraying on Penicillium Candidum mould spores, do so after 1 day in cool room using an atomizer, surface should not be wet.
Move cheeses to cold aging room @ 3 C/45 F & 90% humidity to ripen the interior of the Camembert. If this cold room is a household low humidity fridge, then first wrap cheeses in Camembert paper or cellophane or foil to reduce further drying.

Consuming

At ~7 weeks age Camembert's are "affiné" (refined).
At ~9 weeks age they are "à point" which is when at room temperature, the pate is runny or when the pH increases to near 7.0 or above, especially on the surface.
After ~11 weeks age, the smell of ammonia will become apparent while the creamy golden interior will become ever-more liquid. This is the preferred age of Camembert snobs. But eventually, even the hardiest of Camembert-lovers will concede defeat to an odor that is "not far removed from wet gym kit that has been allowed to fester undisturbed inside a plastic bag for more than a week". If the cheese reaches this stage, it should be thrown out, or buried.

Tricks

If curds stick to mats, use thin blade knife to separate.
Under ideal temperature and humidity, furry white mould (Penicillium candidum mycelium) will cover the cheese and turn gray as the mould forms spores.

Traps

During drying phase, unwanted blue mold may develop if too humid or too much moisture left in cheese before salting.
During drying phase, if unwanted black furry mould called "poil de chat, cat's hair" may develop, remove with salt and to stop it spreading.
During drying phase, required white mold will not form if too dry.
Camembert has some special safety concerns especially if using raw milk because the acidity decreases (pH increases) dramatically due to the white mould which can allow pathogens to survive and then grow when the pH increases during ripening. To mitigate this Camembert curing rooms must be cleaned and sanitized regularly.


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Ingredients Ingredients - Metric Ingredients - American Directions Making Aging Consuming Tricks Traps Ingredients Ingredients - Metric Makes ~3 standard 11 cm diameter Camembert Cheeses: 4 litres fresh whole cow's milk. Optional: Calcium Chloride if using store bought pasteurized milk, amount as per manufacturers directions or your experience. 60 ml of homemade or your choice of manufactured Mesophilic Starter Culture, amount as per directions. Rennet, your choice of type, amount as per your experience or package directions, diluted in ~125 ml cool water. Salt Penicillium Ccndidum or a piece of rind from a Camembert cheese as an inoculant. If spraying on P candidum, 16 hours before use, melt 1/8 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp sugar in 8 oz water then dilute in 1/8 tsp P Candidum, pour into atomizer, and place in fridge to reactivate before use. Optional: Geotrichum candidum. Optional: Some French cheesemakers spray the cheese with unpasteurised beer or wine to add additional flavour and micro-organisms. Ingredients - American Makes ~2 standard 4.25 inch diameter Camembert Cheeses: 1 US gallon fresh whole cow's milk. Optional: Calcium Chloride if using store bought pasteurized milk, amount as per manufacturers directions or your experience. 2 fluid ounces of homemade or your choice of manufactured Mesophilic Starter Culture, amount as per directions. Rennet, your choice of type, amount as per your experience or package directions, diluted in ~4 ounces of cool water. Salt Penicillium candidum or a piece of rind from a Camembert cheese as an inoculant. If spraying on P candidum, 16 hours before use, melt 1/8 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp sugar in 8 oz water then dilute in 1/8 tsp P Candidum, pour into atomizer, and place in fridge to reactivate before use. Optional: Geotrichum candidum. Optional: Some French cheesemakers spray the cheese with unpasteurised beer or wine to add additional flavour and micro-organisms. Directions Making Pour milk into stockpot, place stockpot in water bath (sink or larger stockpot on stove) and warm slowly to 31-32°C/88-90°F. Add starter culture and thoroughly stir in. Optional, if adding Penicillium candidum and Geotrichum candidum to milk, do so here by stirring in. Cover and set aside to ripen for ~90 minutes. Add diluted rennet, stir in, cover and set aside for curd to set. After ~60 minutes, check for clean break, if good, cut curd into 1-2 cm/0.5-1 inch diamonds. Let cut curds rest and settle to bottom of stockpot @ same temperature for 10 minutes. Ladle off whey to level of curds, then gently ladle cut curds into hoops on mats on a draining board in 4-5 ladles. Level top of curds such that all are even/same height. Place top mats on top of hoops. After gravity draining ~1 hour, quickly turn the mat-hoop-mat sandwich without curds slipping out and place back down, do not refill hoops. Peel back top mat carefully so don't tear surface, rinse-wash and replace. Repeat above two steps every ~hour for 5 hours and then occasionally until the pH is 4.6-4.9 or the cheeses are about 1/3 original height and have shrunk away from sides of hoop. This should be 8-12 hours after adding culture, start of cheese making. Remove cheeses from hoops and cover with light/thin layer of dry salt (6 - 9 grams/cheese) by shaker or by rubbing the salt on all surfaces to inhibit the growth of micro-organisms and hence slow further acid development. Place salted cheeses on plastic mats in cool drying room @ 9-10 C/48-50 F & 95% humidity. Aging Leave cheeses in same cool but very humid drying room for 5-10 days during which the rind will fully develop. Turn cheeses daily. Optional, if spraying on Penicillium Candidum mould spores, do so after 1 day in cool room using an atomizer, surface should not be wet. Move cheeses to cold aging room @ 3 C/45 F & 90% humidity to ripen the interior of the Camembert. If this cold room is a household low humidity fridge, then first wrap cheeses in Camembert paper or cellophane or foil to reduce further drying. Consuming At ~7 weeks age Camembert's are "affiné" (refined). At ~9 weeks age they are "à point" which is when at room temperature, the pate is runny or when the pH increases to near 7.0 or above, especially on the surface. After ~11 weeks age, the smell of ammonia will become apparent while the creamy golden interior will become ever-more liquid. This is the preferred age of Camembert snobs. But eventually, even the hardiest of Camembert-lovers will concede defeat to an odor that is "not far removed from wet gym kit that has been allowed to fester undisturbed inside a plastic bag for more than a week". If the cheese reaches this stage, it should be thrown out, or buried. Tricks If curds stick to mats, use thin blade knife to separate. Under ideal temperature and humidity, furry white mould (Penicillium candidum mycelium) will cover the cheese and turn gray as the mould forms spores. Traps During drying phase, unwanted blue mold may develop if too humid or too much moisture left in cheese before salting. During drying phase, if unwanted black furry mould called "poil de chat, cat's hair" may develop, remove with salt and to stop it spreading. During drying phase, required white mold will not form if too dry. Camembert has some special safety concerns especially if using raw milk because the acidity decreases (pH increases) dramatically due to the white mould which can allow pathogens to survive and then grow when the pH increases during ripening. To mitigate this Camembert curing rooms must be cleaned and sanitized regularly.
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