‘Raw’ milk being stirred as camembert is made
Posted on 06/07/2007 12:16:50 AM PDT by bruinbirdman
Traditional camembert is in danger of dying out after two of the French cheese's biggest producers ended the 200-year-old custom of making it with "raw" milk.
Premium camembert - the oozing, pungent variety - is made from unpasteurised, unsterilised lait cru, mainly from Normandy cows.
But Lactalis, the world's biggest cheese maker, and the Isigny-Sainte-Mère cheese co-operative have now begun to use micro-filtered milk instead, arguing it is a necessary step to meet modern food safety requirements.
‘Raw’ milk being stirred as camembert is made
The pair have become the first French cheese producers to give up the Normandy camembert Appellation d'Origine Controlee (AOC) quality mark which specifies the use of raw milk. They are now only making small quantities of lait cru camembert for niche brands.
As a result of the opt-out, the AOC is coming under pressure to allow pasteurised milk. But traditionalists say that if this happens, the art of making genuine gooey camembert will soon die out.
"If they want to leave the AOC, they are free to do so, but we don't agree that the rules should be changed," said Bertrand Gillon, who runs Réaux, one of the five remaining camembert producers still using raw milk.
Mr Gillon's produce won top prize at last year's Paris agricultural fair, and workers at his family plant on the outskirts of Lessay still ladle out curdled milk into moulds by hand. He argues that filtering and heating milk removes the microbes that give it its distinctive farmyard flavour.
However, in December 2005, Mr Gillon had to close his factory for several weeks when six children became ill after eating its camembert.
In response, Luc Morelon, a spokesman for Lactalis, said: "I don't want to risk sending any more children to hospital. It's as simple as that."
But Mr Gillon believes his multinational competitors are using health issues as a smokescreen. "They are interested in mass production. You can't use lait cru for the mass market, as you can only guarantee top quality with a relatively small number of milk producers," he said.
With Lactalis and Isigny-Sainte-Mère together accounting for 90 per cent of production, the amount of AOC Normandy camembert available is set to plummet. Next year only 4,000 tons will be made according to the original recipe given to Marie Harel, an inhabitant of Camembert, by a priest from Brie fleeing French Revolutionaries in 1791.
It is also feared that AOC rule changes could threaten the future of other cheeses made from raw milk, such as Brie de Meaux, first produced in the 8th century.
There isn’t much I like about the French, but I do love their cheese.
Pasteurization is a French invention.
Thanks for posting this interesting article.
All of these changes to traditional artisanal methods of production are being forced on France by the EU; to conform to standards set in Brussels.
Cheese is part of France’s heritage and culture. Most other countries in the EU do not share this cultural tradition, and want a standardized product they can control.
The EU is also planning to ban many French and American cosmetics, made with “toxic materials”. The goal of the EU is to eliminate France and the US from the cosmetics market that they dominate.
That is just a small example of what happens when people surrender their National Sovereignty to bureacrats.
There are some damn good French wines, too.
A nice stinky Roquefort cheese and a strong French Red... Great stuff.
I ain’t no surrender monkey, neither. ;)
I realize tyhat it isn't a traditional British specialty - but every restaurant in London and south blamed their lousy hamburgers on the EU.
In keeping with a discussion of fried hockey pucks - how about them Ducks!
Sounds like the problem could be averted by bacteriological testing of each batch of the raw milk which is intended for cheese making. If found unsuitable for use raw it could be made into a pasteurized product.
Goes to show you how uncouth I am. I’ve never heard of the stuff!
People have been eating cheese made from raw (unpasteurized) milk for hundreds of years, and no one has ever died from it.
Cheese making in France is a high level art. Every batch is tested for bacteria, fat content, etc, before being made into cheese. The French have the highest standards for production, they just don’t conform to the EU standards, and the EU rules.
The EU wants to eliminate National Identity of each country and requires standards for food that must be met. They are not interested in preserving France’s gastronomical heritage.
Can you tell me why America produces so lousy cheese? I mean, you can use US cheese for sandwiches, burgers, or even as a cover for lasagne or pizza - but you cannot use it with plain baguette. To eat baguette with cheese you need to buy the expensive imported cheese. Why is that?
Who? The Anaheim California Canards of Los Angeles? Used to live 7 miles from those Quacks and never went to a "game". Is that a "French" game?
yitbos
Wasn't there a "Chairman" somewhere who was real good at that? I hear he had special methods for guaranteeing compliance.
yitbos
Your post had to be removed because of profanity. If you wish, you may repost it without the profanity.
Frankly I've found very few French brands that will stand up to it and I've not found anyone who can disagree. Good stuff.
Sacrilege!
There are some very good American artisinal cheeses these days.
They are generally regional. You just have to know where to look.
I´m in Europe. It´s just, that whenever I´m in the US, I don´t see any good domestic cheese. I´m sure that there are some excellent regional products, but I´m wondering why they´re not sold nation-wide. Is it that your meat is so good that the American consumer simply doesn´t need cheese (except for Pizza, cheeseburger, pasta)? ;-) Really, I was wondering.
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