BrieBrie is a soft cow's
milk cheese named after Brie, the French region from which it originated. It is pale in
color with a slight grayish tinge under a rind of white mold. The whitish moldy rind is typically eaten, its flavor depending largely upon the ingredients used and its manufacturing environment.
ProductionBrie may be produced from whole or semi-skimmed milk. The curd is obtained by adding rennet to raw milk and heating it to a maximum temperature of 37 °C. The cheese is then cast into molds, sometimes with a traditional perforated ladle called a pelle à brie. The 8 in mold is filled with several thin layers of cheese and drained for approximately 18 hours. The cheese is then taken out of the molds, salted, inoculated with cheese mold or Brevibacterium linens, and aged in a cellar for at least four to five weeks.
If left to mature for longer, typically several months to a year, the cheese becomes stronger in flavor and taste, the pâte drier and darker, and the rind also darker and crumbly, and it is called Brie Noir. Around the Île-de-France where brie is made, people enjoy soaking this in café au lait and eating it for breakfast.
Overripe brie contains an unpleasant excessive amount of ammonia, produced by the same microorganisms required for ripening.
Some versions of Brie cheese are smoked.
Varieties
There are now many varieties of brie made all over the world, including plain brie, herbed varieties, double and triple brie and versions of brie made with other types of milk. Indeed, although brie is a French cheese, it is possible to obtain Somerset and Wisconsin brie. Despite the variety of bries, the French government officially certifies only two types of cheese to be sold under that name: Brie de Meaux and Brie de Melun.
A 30 g serving of brie contains 101 calories and 8.4 grams of
fat, of which 5.2 grams are saturated fat. Brie is a good source of
protein; a serving of brie can provide 5 to 6 grams of protein. Brie contains a good amount of both
vitamin B12 and vitamin B2.
Recipe using Brie.
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