1. Milk is warmed.
2. A starter culture and rennet are added.
3. The mild coagulates into a single huge cord.
4. The curd is stirred and cut to drain off whey
5. The curd is heated, sometimes pressed, to remove more whey
6. The curd is moulded and shaped into a cheese, salting taking place before or after this process.
7. The cheese is matured under controlled conditions.
The area I have selected to research is the West of France.
Some of the cheeses for this region are: Brillat-Savarin, Camembert, and Livarot.
Brillat - Savarin
The disk is 13cm. across, 3.5cm thick, and it is made in the pays de bray. Enriched, pasturized cow's milk is utiilized. The cheese has a soft, creamy interior with exceptionally high fat content(75%). It has a white penicillium candidum exterior and sometimes tinged with beige.
Camembert
The disk is 11cm. across, 3cm. thick and is made in the pays d'Auge from raw cow's milk. It has a soft creamy interior and the exterior is white with penicillium.
Livarot
The disk is 12cm. across, 4.5cm. thick and is may in the pays d'Auge from raw cow's milk. It has a soft texture, reddish, washed rind, belted by several thin strips of paper. It has a potent flavor and aroma and has been cautioned from those who have timid tastes.
The measurement for cheese in France is that of the gram. For a minimum purchase, one has to buy 500 grams. Therefore, most people consume 200 grams of cheese per day. Their consumption of cheeses in France is great.
Some recommendations on how to choose, to conserve and how to enjoy cheese:
The ideal place to keep them is a dark humid well aerated cellar (humidity should be between 85% to 95%).
The temperature of the cellar should be kept constant at about 10C degrees.
The cheeses should be well separated and laid to rest on a board or a fine bed of clean straw.
The cheeses presented are the following: the Camembert and the Livarot.
The cheeses I would like to taste are the Livarot and the Camemebert because they seem very interesting and they have been recommended by so many famous cheese lovers worldwide. Their unusual tastes and textures have been commented upon several occassions and it would be to my curiosity to taste them and see for myself what they are really like.